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Big Show 6

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Tech Freedom

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/.

https://9to5linux.com/kde-plasma-5-27-6-is-out-to-improve-plasma-wayland-session-support-for-flatpak-apps 

 

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.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/06/sdl-2280-released-and-goes-into-maintenance-mode-now-focusing-on-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/ 

 

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/06/classic-lucasarts-games-emulator-dreamm-adds-early-linux-support/ 

 

FOSS News – Big Show 5

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, Foss News, Linux, Tech Freedom

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.

 

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/06/amd-reveals-initial-open-source-opensil-code-to-replace-agesa-firmware/ 

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

FOSS News Big Show 3: Jared Heath of Altha Technologies, Inc.

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Tech Freedom

FOSS News Big Show 3: Jared Heath of Altha Technologies, Inc.

Distro News
Rocky & Alma Linux 9.2 Out Now
Tails 5.13
Freespire 9.5
FOSS News
PSA: Linux 62 is EOL
KDE News
Interview with Jared Heath of Altha Technologies, Inc.

FOSS Fun
Lutris 0.5.3
Changes at Codeweavers
New DXVK Released

Today, I’ll be chatting with Jared Heath, who is the founder and CEO of Altha Technology, Inc., out of Mount Airy, North Carolina. He is a USMC veteran and all around nerd. Altha Technology was founded in 2016, with the clear mission to help people be more censorship-resistant. The motto at Altha Tech is “Protect the data, Own the data, Serve the Data”. Jared and his team manage their own infrastructure in Mount Airy. They depend on FOSS tools to make their business run, as well as their customers’ interests keep moving toward their goals. They are an excellent alternative to big hosting companies who will never infringe on your rights to Free Speech. He’ll be riding shotgun for the majority of the show, commenting as things pop into his head in regard to the topics at hand, then partway through, we will have a conversation about him and his company.

Distro News
DN 1 – Version 9.2 Released for Alma and Rocky Linux
As promised and expected, Alma Linux & Rocky Linux each got refreshes, based on the RHEL which forms their shared foundation. Last week, we mentioned that RHEL got an update, now its free downstream distros also got the love. More or less it is the same stuff that we talked through in the notes last week, but if you want more information, as usual, feel free to look in the description for the link to the article. In short, lots of good stuff, here, for the server/enterprise/business crowd. The primary differences with these downstream options is that they are purely community based, not paid options through Red Hat. As a small business person, that should appeal: a free, enterprise-focused OS.

https://9to5linux.com/almalinux-os-9-2-and-rocky-linux-9-2-are-out-now-as-rhel-9-2-alternatives
#distronews #FOSSNews #RHEL #almalinux #RockyLinux

DN 2 – Tails 5.13
This month’s iteration from the team at Tails enables LUKS 2 for new installs with persistent storage. That is the biggest change for this month, next month, they will roll out the ability to switch from LUKS 1 to LUKS 2 on existing installs. What’s the benefit of LUKS 2 vs LUKS 1? It is more secure and more flexible. LUKS 2 can store 4x as many keys as LUKS 1, it offers password-based key derivation functions (PBKDF) which allows for greater security. The newer standard also creates a larger unencrypted header area, which is what allows for the greater number of keys to be stored, but I digress. I have to admit that there is much about this topic that I do not understand, as I’ve never really done much with encryption on my own machines. Back to Tails, though, their cURL download tool now runs through Tor all the time, so you can easily use it for investigations without being easily tracked as you work. If you want to take a look at an exhaustive list of updates and changes, you should peruse their changelog (https://gitlab.tails.boum.org/tails/tails/-/blob/master/debian/changelog). Here is a shortlist, though:
• Tor Browser 12.0.6 anonymous web browser by default
• Mozilla Firefox 102.11 ESR,
• Updated Unsafe Browser feature
• Updated documentation
• Updated Welcome Screen
• Several bug fixes
If you are set on being nigh untrackable online, you can use this, the same OS as Ed Snowden. Not sure how much of a ringing endorsement that is, I still don’t know how much I trust him, though I suppose he must know what he’s talking about in terms of privacy.
https://9to5linux.com/tails-5-13-enables-luks2-by-default-for-persistent-storage-and-encrypted-volumes
#distromonday #Tails #Linux #privacy #encryption #FOSSNews #TechFreedom #BigShow

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DN 3 – FreeSpire 9.5 Out Now
Freespire is an Ubuntu 22.04LTS derivative. It has been meticulously designed to appeal to the group of people (perhaps like you), who are comfortable with Windows 10 in terms of UI. It has a heavily customized GNOME desktop built to look almost identical to the aforementioned OS. If you are looking for an easier entry point into Linux, this could be your ticket. It used to run Xfce, but they found that they could more easily tweak the UI to match customer feedback with GNOME, so they went that direction instead. What else changed?
• Latest Ubuntu upstream security patches (as of 5/5/23)
• Fixed many bugs and issues
◦ Python 3 apps should no longer crash or refuse to start,
◦ proper resolutions are now displayed on HDMI connections
◦ Bluetooth headset microphones should now work correctly (I wish the rest of the Linux world would fix this issue… I’ve never been able to reliably use bt headset microphones, could someone just make this work, please?)
◦ Both Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge web apps now show in the applications menu
◦ Zoom calls no longer crash when using Bluetooth audio devices.
• Out of the box flatpak support, with a handful of key inclusions that are missing from Ubuntu itself: OnlyOffice Desktop Editors, balenaEtcher, and Midnight Commander
The only things that I’d want to see change here are a total rebase on anything other than Ubuntu, and a migration away from systemd. These things go for most other distros as well, though.
https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-based-freespire-9-5-brings-custom-gnome-ui-to-resemble-windows-10s-look
#distromonday #freespire #Linux #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

FOSS News
FN 1 – PSA: Linux 62 is Now EOL
Linux 62 series, we hardly knew ye. Nah, non LTS kernel series only get supported for 3 months or so. It is time to either go back to the Linux 61 LTS or update to the latest Linux 63 series, if you want to continue getting security updates and the like. Just wanted to make sure that you guys and gals who are already in the Linux space know about this.
https://9to5linux.com/linux-kernel-6-2-reaches-end-of-life-users-urged-to-upgrade-to-linux-kernel-6-3
#FOSSNews #PSA #updates #Linux #news #developmentmarcheson #TechFreedom


FN 2 – KDE News Triple Header
2.1 – KDE Frameworks 5.106
Here’s the monthly (roughly) update for Qt and related apps, this one has some good stuff in it, as usual.
• support for the small monochrome versions of the “MS-DOS Executable” icons in the Breeze icon theme to respect the active color scheme
• improved Display Configuration widget and OSD icons with consistent stroke widths and levels of detail
• icons for .abc Alembic files
• new icons for the pixelate and blur tools in Spectacle
• a new icon for the Partition Manager app
• improves the Plasma Browser Integration to fix a Plasma crash that occurred when playing certain YouTube videos and also when using a proxy
• Fixed bug with Right to Left scripts causing errors with windows (talked about this last week, when we covered Plasma 5.27.5)
• Can now convert to and from kilometers per hour using the “kph” keyword
• Improves dragging from empty areas of the toolbar in the Plasma Discover package manager and many other Kirigami-based apps
• Dolphin bugs squashed
◦ prevent a major source of crashes when copying files
◦ folders fail to update in real-time when contents are modified in another application
• improved middle-clicking on various things like KWin-drawn titlebars
• fix for an issue that could cause KDE apps and the Plasma desktop to hang when using them to move a lot of files at the same time
• Among other things, if you want more detail, check out the changelog here: (https://kde.org/announcements/frameworks/5/5.106.0/)
https://9to5linux.com/kde-frameworks-5-106-improves-breeze-icons-plasma-browser-integration-and-more


2.2 – KDE Gear 23.04.1
What’s new in KDE Gear? Why, improvements for many significant KDE apps, such as:

• Kdenlive
◦ fixed an issue causing project files to be corrupted when opened
◦ a recent regression where sequence clip duration was not updated
◦ Fixed various sequence issues
◦ Fixed a crash when the speech engine was left configured
◦ Fixed a concurrency crash in thumbnails
• Spectacle
◦ fixed the Rectangular Region selector to work as expected on multi-monitor setups where one of the displays has a scale factor below 100%.
◦ Spectacle will no longer affect the window below it when it’s closed with the Esc key
• Dolphin on x11
◦ no longer see an already-open instance of Dolphin in a different workspace or activity becoming focused and switched to when using the “Open containing folder” functionality in various KDE apps
▪ Coming soon for Wayland sessions as well
• Skanpage
◦ UI improvements as well to force the “rotate image” buttons to actually rotate the image in the expected directions
◦ OCR language list view is now scrollable when needed
• Filelight
◦ no longer fail to launch when your disk is full, , ,.
• KItinerary
◦ adds support to the library to handle the German language variant of Vueling boarding groups
• Neochat
◦ improves Qt 6 support for NeoChat
• KDE Minuet support for Wayland
◦ improved windowing
• If you want to know more, take a look at the changelog here (https://kde.org/announcements/changelogs/gear/23.04.1/)
https://9to5linux.com/kde-gear-23-04-1-is-out-to-improve-kdenlive-spectacle-dolphin-and-more

2.3 – KDE 6
At a joint sprint event in Germany, the KDE team and Tuxedo Computers teamed up to work on Plasma 6. There are some really big changes coming down the pipeline, guys. I am excited about these. The first thing that should have been on the list in the article linked below was the change in release cadence. I think that will not only make KDE more stable, but it will allow the devs to apply a significant amount more polish to the environment between releases. Once it is released, they are moving to a more deliberate 2 releases per year cadence. Sure, that means that there won’t be as many of these update pieces to cover, but when they do happen, they may take up lots of space to cover adequately. My question there, though, is does that mean that Gear and Frameworks will also slow down that much, or just the DE itself?
Other than that, there will be some significant changes made in terms of quality of life:
• Defaulting to double click for opening files in Dolphin (should have been a standard default the whole time, afaic).
• Floating panel is now a default, to differentiate between KDE and Windows, which seems to have stolen KDE’s homework yet again.
• Default to Wayland rather than x11
◦ Not great for NVidia users, but those issues look to be fixable by whenever they release Plasma 6, which is excellent
• new default Task Switcher
• no more scrolling on the desktop to switch virtual desktops,
• clicking in the scrollbar track jumps the scrollbar to that location,
• a wallpaper page in System Settings
• unified desktop plugins
• better handling for keyboard backlighting
Unfortunately there is still no fixed date for the release of Plasma 6 at this time. I will keep you apprised as more information comes out. One thing I really hope for in 6 is that they fix 2-in-1 & touchscreen support. If they do, I will gladly switch back to KDE on my primary work machine (a surface pro 5).
https://9to5linux.com/kde-plasma-6-to-ship-with-floating-panel-by-default-double-click-for-opening-files

#FOSSnews #bigshow #KDE #updates #fixes #TechFreedom
Want to learn more about how to degoogle your phone and why?

Degoogled

#TechFreedom #degoogled #degoogleyourlife #defintionsday #Truth
FN 3 – Interview with Jared Heath
Well, now that we have talked about KDE and a few distros, let’s chat with Jared about his company and learn a bit more about him, his team, and what all they offer.
So, Jared, why should we care about you and Altha Tech?
What is Altha Tech?
What got you into tech to begin with?
Why did you start Altha Tech?
What is your vision for Altha Tech?
How can people reach out to Altha Tech?
How’d you come up with the name of the company?

#interview #bigshow #TechFreedom #FOSSNews

FF 1 – Lutris Updates
Lutris, if you’re unaware, is a game management/ library system. They’re constantly working on making it better, and the big deal with this update is the ability to directly use proton from Lutris. It is apparently just a compatibility check, so don’t expect perfection at this point, but cool, either way. Here’s the rest of the highlights:

• Add drag and drop on the main window. Dropped files will be matched No-Intro, Redump and TOSEC checksums.
• Add support for ModDB links in installers (moddb python module required).
• Added “Missing” sidebar option for games whose directory is missing.
• Re-style the configuration, preferences, installer and add-games windows.
• Group configuration options into sections.
• Added checkbox to stop asking for the launch config for a game.
• Added checkbox to sort installed games first. (about time)
• Support for launch-configs in shortcuts and the command line.
• Show platform badges on banners and cover-art. (good)
• Installing games from setup files can now use different presets (Win98, 3DFX, …). (oooh)
• Add filter field to runner list.
• Show game count in search bar.
• Workaround Humble Bundle authentication issues by allowing importing cookies from Firefox.
• Add Itch.io integration.
• Add Battle.net integration (protobuf dependency required).
• Improve detection of DOSBox games on GOG.
• Added “Unspecified” Vulkan ICD option.
• Removed ResidualVM (now merged into ScummVM)
• Detect obsolete Vulkan drivers and default to DXVK 1.x for them.
• Improved High-DPI support for custom media.
• Performance improvements.
Good stuff, overall. I would say that the direct proton compatibility will, once it is mature, make a huge difference for a growing number of games.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/lutris-v0513-adds-proton-support-itch-and-battlenet-integration/
#FOSSNews #BigShow #FOSSFun #Lutris #TechFreedom
FF 2 – Codeweavers (creators of WINE) Change Corporate Governance Model
CodeWeavers is having a bit of a shakeup in how the company is being run. They are moving from a traditional ownership model to an employee trust model, so that employees get to make decisions about the direction of the company, and also get to benefit directly from it. This sounds like a win-win for them, we’ll see how it goes. As long as WINE/ Proton/ Crossover stay solid, or even get better, this is a good move for the community. If they deteriorate, then not so much. Not sure that I would ever do that with my company, but then, it barely exists as more than an aspiration at this point. On the other hand, my desire, when I hire people, is to provide them with a living wage, so that they don’t have to worry about anything, and can just work happily without that stress on them. Big dreams.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/codeweavers-partners-of-valve-on-proton-move-to-an-employee-ownership-trust/
#FOSSNews #codeweavers #WINE #proton #changes #TechFreedom

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FF 3 – New Version of DXVK? Yes Please.
The latest, v 2.2, ships with some tasty additions. Let’s list them, shall we?

• D3D11On12
◦ Makes it so that DX11 games get rendered as though they were DX12 titles, which is better for Vulkan to manage, if I’m not mistaken. In order to use it though, you’ll need a recent vkd3d-proton build and it uses the D3D11On12CreateDevice and ID3D11On12Device interfaces
• D3D9 partial presentation
◦ This feature enables DXVK to present parts of a window by copying the contents of the back buffer to system memory and then drawing them into the window on the CPU.
▪ What’s that mean? Better compatibility for some game launchers and visual novels, but at a performance penalty
• Game fixes
◦ Jade Empire
◦ Sid Meier’s Pirates
◦ Total War: Shogun 2
◦ Battle Fantasia Revised Edition
◦ Cold Fear
◦ Dawn of Magic 2
◦ DC Universe Online
◦ Far Cry 2
◦ Halo: The Master Chief Collection
◦ Warhammer 40K: Space Marine
• Other fixes
◦ a regression that occurred when rendering YUY2 or UYUY texture formats
◦ some Vulkan validation errors
◦ improved usage of some VK_EXT_extended_dynamic_state3 features
◦ improved enumeration of DXGI outputs on systems with multiple graphics cards
◦ improved memory usage in cases where games create unused D3D11 devices
You could potentially grab it now from the project’s GitHub, then compile from source on your machine, or if you don’t play any of the titles on the list, you could just wait for it to be available in your distro’s repositories. As an aside, when will MS abandon DX, anyway? Sure, it has become a defacto set of protocols, but it has always been a pain in the hind parts to work with, and it makes it harder for FOSS to be legit in terms of gaming. *thinks to self* Maybe that is why they haven’t… Because even though Vulkan works better and is easier to work with, MS doesn’t control it, and that is intolerable for those sociopaths.

DXVK 2.2 Released with D3D11On12 Support, D3D9 Partial Presentation

#FOSSNews #FOSSFun #linuxgaming #dxvk #TechFreedom

FOSS News Big Show 2

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Linux, Tech Freedom

FOSS News Big Show 2

Special Guest: Connor Needling of Needling Worldwide

Distro News
Top 15 Rolling Distros
Alpine 3.18
RHEL 9.2

FOSS News
How to Delete a Directory with 1000’s of Files in it
QEMU 8.1
Plasma 5.27.5

FOSS Fun
No More Roblox on Linux
Steam Deck Competitor?
Arcane Wilds

Distro News
DN 1 – 16 Rolling Distros to Consider
This is a listicle of rolling release distros you might want to look at if you’re curious about having more frequent updates. I’ll comment on each one, similar to how I did with the privacy listicle last week.
1) Vanilla Arch
a) Had to be #1 on the list. It is the quintessential rolling release distro, and serves as the base for many of the options later in the list. This is not, however, for the faint of heart. It uses a script-based installer (or you just have a list of all the packages you want to install, in the correct order, and you handle it all yourself. It gives you a level of control over your system that is otherwise more or less unheard of. However, you can break it by looking at it in a way that it doesn’t like. (https://archlinux.org)
2) Solus Linux
a) Much more user-friendly than Arch, independent, though in the process of merging with SerpentOS, which is headed up by the original developer on the Solus project. This is the team that brought us Budgie. I’ve poked at Solus a little, but was not taken by it. (https://getsol.us)
3) Manjaro
a) Loosely based on Arch, quasi-rolling, but also has a semi-point release cadence. Every few months, they roll a fresh ISO version with the latest stable packages. It is like Arch with training wheels. I’ve used it for years, where I’ve yet to successfully install Arch on even a VM, to be quite honest. (https://manjaro.org) It is easy to install, easy to use, but still has the customizability of Arch at the core. Solid distro.
4) Void Linux
a) Another indie distro like Arch, only more focused on raw performance and security than Arch is. It is ultra-customizable. Did I mention fast? I’ve never tried it, but have friends who have sworn by it in the past. (https://voidlinux.org)
5) openSUSE Tumbleweed
a) I have a friend who ran it in a production environment while trying to get Alpine to work for his purposes. He enjoyed it and was surprised by the volume of updates that sometimes came in hourly, but also at the fact that it was rock stable. The thing that turned him off about it was that it has some systemd quirks that drove him up the wall and made it harder for him to do what he needed to do. I had Tumbleweed on a flashdrive and tried it once, but was not happy with it then (a couple of years ago). Give it a shot if you want to learn a new distro, you may be surprised at the outcome. (https://get.opensuse.com/tumbleweed)
6) Fedora
a) Community-based upstream for Red Hat and RHEL. This puts it in close proximity to IBM, who is one of the major contributors to Red Hat. They also lead development for GNOME, as well as systemd. I could go off on systemd, but feel like I’d be wasting my breath. It more or less controls your system from behind the scenes. They recently made a change to the way it handles DNS such that you can no longer control which DNS servers your system uses. That feels like a big deal to me. (https://fedora.org)
7) NixOS
a) I did a piece on NixOS over on the Altha Tech blog ( https://althatech.com/it-work/nixos-and-altha-tech/ ) last month, as it is the primary OS they use in their server infrastructure. It is more or less just an indie package manager which provides a high degree of reliability and reproducibility due to the fact that all configurations are resident in a single file, so once you commit changes there, if you have a whole fleet of machines or server running NixOS, they all get that change automagically. (https://nixos.org)
8) Debian Testing
a) Yes, there is a branch of that venerable distro which is rolling release. If you know Linux, you are probably familiar, at least in passing, with grandaddy Debian. It is the base of Ubuntu, after all, so all of the Ubuntu flavors and derivatives owe their existence to Debian. Debian is not terribly exciting, but it is stable once down-stream from Testing. (https://wiki.debian.org/DebianTesting)
9) Sparky Linux
a) Been around for a while, based on Debian Testing. Stable and simple. Haven’t tried it, so I can’t speak to how good it is, personally. (https://sparkylinux.org/)
10) EndeavourOS
a) NASA-themed Arch derivative which is relatively light, fast, and certainly rolling. It comes with the latest Calamares installer and most of what you need in order to make your system run well out of the box. One thing you have to keep in mind with this distro is it will require you to become much more comfortable with the terminal than others will, as it does not ship with a GUI package manager, so you have to use CLI pacman to get that done, at least until you install something like Octopi (which feels a bit like aptitude in Debian distros). (https://endeavouros.com)
11) Ka OS
a) Indie distro which only ships with the latest versions of all things KDE Plasma. Think of it as an indie version of KDE Neon (which is based on Ubuntu… It is basically Kubuntu unstable, where much of the KDE package testing happens). Ka OS is intentionally limited in scope, as their focus is on quality not quantity. It is a great option for those of us who are hardcore KDE fans. I’ve not tried it, but have talked about it quite a bit over the last year (I typically cover each new ISO release). (https://kaosx.us)
12) Gentoo Linux
a) Another indie distro, but not one that is intentionally user-friendly. This one is built by developers and system admins for developers and system admins. It has its own package manager, and actually serves as the base on which ChromeOS is built. But Gentoo, on its own, is about as easy to use and maintain as Arch is. Not for anyone who doesn’t enjoy building packages from source. (https://gentoo.org)
13) Chakra Linux
a) Arch-based hybrid distro which offers rolling for non system-critical packages, but periodic updates for core system packages. I’d never heard of this one, and it is no longer being developed, so don’t bother with this one, boys and girls. Doesn’t even have its own webiste.
14) Sabayon became Mocacchino OS
a) It is more or less Gentoo + containers and layers and all sorts of other current buzz words. I don’t have the desire to try this one, but if containerization sounds beneficial in your usecase, add this to the container-driver distro list. (https://www.mocaccino.org/)
15) Rolling Rhino Remix
a) Ubuntu, only rolling. I covered this distro briefly when it was announced several months back they track all of the devel series updates and roll them out to users. I’m not clear as to whether it is really daily driver ready or not, so take your chances if you wish. It looks interesting, is all I’m going to say. (https://rollingrhino.org/)
https://www.geeksveda.com/rolling-release-linux-distributions/
#distronews #FOSSNews #rollingrelease

DN 2 – Alpine Linux 3.18
A new version from this minimal, OpenRC, MUSL based distro. This will matter more to you if you are aware of just how much control you lose of your system to run systemd. Systemd used to simply be an init system, but in the last 5 years, especially, it has ballooned out into controlling most aspects of your system behind the scenes. It is still technically FOSS, but very few people who are not developers even have the desire to look at release notes and the like to see what kind of feature creep has invaded that stack of protocols and firmware hooks. One thing that was recently brought to my attention, courtesy of friend of the channel, Connor Needling, is that systemd has now been rewritten in such a way that we no longer have control over what DNS servers our systems use. Let’s start to migrate away from systemd-based distributions. Alpine is one, but it is not particularly user friendly on the front end, unfortunately. Connor is a huge fan of Alpine, and I am testing it on my kids’ machine, as it is very lightweight and performant, and their machine is over 10 years old, so it seems like a match made in heaven, to a certain extent. Devuan, MX Linux, Salix, Artix, and AntiX are a few other non-systemd options out there that might be a bit more user friendly (MX is excellent in that respect, if you are ok with Debian based distros. Check this list for even more options: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Linux_distributions_without_systemd
There of course were some key updates in 3.18, such as moving up to the Linux 61 LTS series, musl libc 1.2.4, Python 3.11, Ruby 3.2, Node.js 20.1, Go 1.20, and Rust 1.69. Remember, this is a lightweight distro. Don’t expect a ton of bells & whistles. You’ll even need to install and configure networking for your machine. Beware the install script, though. It will try to force you to set up WiFi, when your system may not be 100% supported. I suggest plugging in hardline, via a lan cable. Worry about WiFi later. You’ll also need to use their setup-desktop script to pick your DE poison, so to speak. You’ll also need to wrap your head around doas vs sudo, at least until you install and configure sudo (which I suggest you do quickly), as well as their package manager (Alpine Package Keeper, or APK). 3.18 does ship with support for GNOME 44 and Plasma 5.27LTS, just need to pick which one you want, but you also have the option of Xfce. The bottom line when installing Alpine is that the wiki is your best friend, unless you have a friend who has done it and is good at explaining things.
https://9to5linux.com/alpine-linux-3-18-is-out-with-linux-6-1-lts-experimental-support-for-unattended-installs

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Free call.
60-90 minutes.
Q&A
Leave with Actionable Steps to take, whether you work with me or not.
Schedule today.

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#distromonday #freedom #consultation #Linux #degoogleyourlife #TechFreedom

DN 3 – RHEL 9.2 Out Now with Some Interesting Goodies
Last week, we talked about a couple of distros which are based on RHEL, but now we’re gonna talk about the main source for those distros, RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux). This is the preeminent enterprise distro in the world. Red Hat is trusted because it has always enjoyed a close relationship with Big Blue (IBM), who have supplied funding and software contributions to the organization and its products for many years. Fedora is somewhat clean, as it is community driven, as far as I know. RHEL and CentOS Stream are decidedly less so than Fedora is, in my opinion, but take that with a grain of salt, as this is pure opinion based on circumstantial evidence at best. I went off about systemd earlier, so I won’t harp on that, but GNOME is also developed by teams at Red Hat. Anyway, back to RHEL and why I am sharing this article in the first place… RHEL got an update. Podman got a huge leg up (podman is a container management tool) in that now, it doesn’t require so much CLI knowledge to operate and take care of your container needs in your fleet. It seems to be geared more and more for automation, which is a welcome piece of news for network admins everywhere. So much more besides that, but you’ll have to read the article in the description if you care to see all of that.

https://9to5linux.com/red-hat-enterprise-linux-9-2-adds-64k-page-sizes-support-for-arm-new-system-roles

FOSS News
FN 1 – Ever Wondered How to Delete Files in Linux?
Well, if you’ve been around for a minute, you’re probably yelling at your screen about the trusty old rm command. If you are, you’re right. If you were wondering if I’ll mention stat or ls –i or find, you won’t be disappointed, my friend. If you are completely at a loss as to what I’m talking about, that’s ok, too. This is a brief rundown of how to use these commands to get rid of files in the Linux command line interface/terminal. Say you have a huge directory that is simply stuffed with files and perhaps sub-directories, etc, and you need to free up some space on your computer, then you may try to simply select the directory in question in your file manager of choice (Dolphin, Nemo, Nautilus, etc…) and hit the delete key. This MAY work for you, but will only move your directory and its contents to the Trash bin (assuming it isn’t too big, as there is a file size limit placed on the Trash Bin). If it is too big, you can expect an error stating as much. Deleting in Linux does not work the same way as it does in Windows. When you delete a file in Linux, you are simply removing a link to the file from your computer, then later on, when you aren’t using the file you just unlinked to, the contents get cleaned up. In Windows, due to the way the FAT partitioning system used to work, one must make entirely separate copies of a file in order to have it in multiple places, as FAT is kind of dumb that way. At any rate, time to talk commands, yeah?

Everybody’s favorite is rm. It quickly and relatively painlessly removes the link to the file or directory in question. Here’s the basic syntax for rm:
rm -<options> <name of file or directory> —<flag>
For example, if I wanted to delete the pacman lock file ( a frequent enough scenario in Arch based distros) it would go: sudo rm –f /etc/pacman/db.lck the –f option will force it to delete the file, and adding sudo in front will elevate your privileges so that you can take out that system file.
If you want to get rid of a whole directory, though, how would you do that? That is what the –r option is for. –r stands for recursive, so it will get rid of the directory and all that is in it (files, sub-directories, etc). Say you had a directory called Test in your Documents directory, and it has a whole bunch of random junk in there that you don’t need to have around anymore. You would run an rm command like this: rm –r /Documents/Test, and that will get rid of the directory and anything that was inside of it. You experienced users might be wondering if I’ll mention rmdir, well, don’t worry. There’s your mention. It isn’t terribly useful in this case, as it is only capable of removing said directories if they are empty.
Next, we turn to find. Find is a bit more complex than rm, so is probably used less. So here’s the situation: you have a directory called “Test 2” in your Downloads directory, and you don’t want to use rm. What do you do? Find to the rescue! Here’s the command you need: find /Downloads/Test 2 –delete
You could also use find in concert with ls –li or stat to find the inode number (the unique file number for each file or directory in Linux), then write something like this:
find /path/to/file -inum INODE_NUM -exec rm -i {} + (where you would plug in the inode number you found by running either stat or ls –li beforehand for the file in question where it says INODE_NUM), then hit y to confirm the action. This seems extremely specific, which is good, but at the same time, if you know the name of the file or directory anyway, then why bother with the inode thing anyway?

https://www.tecmint.com/delete-large-directory-linux/

FN 2 –QEMU 8.1 Announced
Though 8.0 just shipped, here is a sneak peek at what is coming in the next version of this crucial emulation back end for handling things like running your classic Nintendo or PlayStation games on your Linux PC. It is also useful for more important things, such as testing ARM or RISC-V compatibility for a piece of software. It can also help you to run regular x86 software on an ARM or RISC-V based system. This is incredibly useful for developers so that they can make 100% sure that their software will work on any platform, so the changes made in 8.1 will make it that much more pleasant to use. They added better pipewire support for audio and video backends, as well as a handful more chips that it can emulate for both ARM and RISC-V. It is unlikely that most of you will need this, but I thought I’d cover it, because it will likely indirectly effect you in the future. Lots of good stuff with this release, so if you want to know more, read the article and the announcements, down below.
https://gitlab.com/qemu-project/qemu
https://9to5linux.com/qemu-8-1-promises-pipewire-audio-backend-improved-risc-v-support

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FN 3 – Another KDE Maintenance Update
Here’s KDE Plasma 5.27.5, with a bevy of useful changes and bug squashings, as usual. 5 weeks after the release of 5.27.4, we have the next maintenace update, so what’s new here?
• Even more better flatpak support
◦ No more broken configs
◦ New flatpak permissions page in system settings
◦ And more
• Task Manager can now do better with text for windows which do not have text in the titlebar
• Emoji selector window invokes more quickly from kb shortcut
• Scrolling in Task Manager and Pager widgets works better
• Touchscreen
◦ Long press on system tray icons for context menus works now
• Bug fixes
◦ Plasma Discover
▪ Correctly applies firmware updates
▪ Many flatpak issues
• Crash when dealing with a missing .flatpakref file
◦ Plasma Wayland
▪ no longer crash the KWin window and composite manager when hovering the cursor over Task Manager icons or when closing windows (that was annoying)
▪ System Settings app should no longer crash during startup if the Activities database is corrupted
▪ Plasma should no longer crash due to excessive memory usage when searching for unusual things with KRunner (how do they define an unusual search term?)
◦ Multimonitor Support
▪ No more screens-overlapping-by-one-pixel issue
▪ Many other random issues were fixed as well
◦ Random bits
▪ fixes Plasma Calendar’s “Months” views
▪ updates the mouse acceleration profiles to work properly with libinput 1.3 or later
▪ fixes long notification title text in the Notifications history
▪ improves the Bluetooth connection experience
▪ improves importing of VPN configurations
▪ plugs a major memory leak when plugging in an external display
▪ addresses a recently discovered regression in the size and sharpness of GTK CSD windows’ minimize, maximize, and close buttons when not using a scale factor
▪ improves the centered arrangement of Plasma widgets between two flexible Panel spacers places on vertical panels
As usual, the KDE team have been hard at work to make Plasma that much better, even as they have been devoting many resources to KDE 6, which is due to drop later this year. When 2-in-1 touchscreen support is closer to GNOME level, I very well may go back to KDE on my surface, but not until then. It’s funny, since I put GNOME on my Surface, It almost feels jarring to go back to KDE, though I know I could make it behave similarly. If you want a clearer picture of what this update did, take a look at the announcement page in the description below. (https://kde.org/announcements/plasma/5/5.27.5/)
https://9to5linux.com/kde-plasma-5-27-5-improves-flatpak-permissions-page-system-settings-and-more
#FOSSnews #bigshow #KDE #updates #fixes #TechFreedom

FF 1 – Roblox h8s Penguins
The Roblox developers have hammered the last nail into the coffin for compatibility and support on Linux. They are adopting Hyperion anti-cheat, as the Roblox team bought the company behind Hyperion last October. Their logic for blocking WINE usage is tenuous at best, in my view. They also refuse to countenance the concept of a Linux port, claiming that the gaming community on Linux is neither large nor cohesive enough to bother devoting company resources to developing or supporting. Will this affect Linux adoption rates? I don’t know. I know that Roblox is nearly as popular as Minecraft, particularly with the younger set, however, as this article states, we have Heroic and the Steam Deck, as well as Proton which still enable us to play many games, and those tools are only getting better. I don’t see this as a huge detractor from the appeal of getting away from Windoesn’t and MacOS, if for nothing other than privacy and security reasons. For that matter, Linux is stable, now, particularly if you choose a point release distro like Pop!OS or Mint. It pretty much “just works” for most things, these days. Are there exceptions to the rule? Of course, just like anything else in life. I do not see this making that much of a difference for people who are motivated to make the change anyway.

https://news.itsfoss.com/roblox-linux-end/

FF 2 – ASUS ROG Ally Formally Announced
Well, we have more information about this Steamdeck competitor now, from specs to pricing. It will indeed be running AMD’s new Z1 chips, but it ships with Windoesn’t 11. *throws up in mouth* Why are they inflicting that privacy nightmare on their customers? Oh wait, massive subsidies from MSFT, no doubt. That, and running Windoesn’t entails fewer compatibility issues. Let’s keep an eye on this gear and see about perhaps getting it working on Linux, shall we? So, here are the specs for this piece of kit: AMD Z1 capable of up to 2.8 TFlops for the base model, both ship with a .5 TB Gen4 SSD, 16 GB DDR5 RAM, a 7” FHD touchscreen display capable of 500 nits brightness, and dual cooling fans. Raw power, this thing sounds promising, and it will cost $599. The upgraded model comes with the Z1 Extreme chip, which is about 3x more powerful than the regular Z1, capable of pushing 8.6 TFlops (you might be wondering what a TFlop is: a teraflop, 1 Trillion FLoating point OPerations. A FLOP is a measure of computing performance which gives a more accurate picture of the capabilities of a chip than simple instructions per second). The extreme version is comparable with the processor in the PlayStation 5, clocking in less than half a TFlop/s lower than the P5 in a smaller package that is also more efficient. By the way, the more capable version is slated to sell at $699. To put it into perspective, the top spec Steam Deck sells for $649, and has the same size ssd, and a AMD Zen 2 chip, and 16 GB RAM, with a 1280*800 resolution 7” screen. Its processor can only manage ~1/2 TFlop/s and its integrated GPU can only manage up to 1.6 TFlop/s. That is pretty weak in comparison to the Z1, but it does natively run SteamOS, which is based on Arch Linux. Here’s a link for the Steam Deck: (https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck)

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/asus-rog-ally-releases-in-june-priced-competitively-to-the-steam-deck/

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
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FF 3 – What’s Arcane Wilds?
A Western-themed fantasy RTS game that is cross-platform and currently in beta testing. It has
3 factions which each have their unique features, strengths and weaknesses, Army (a Civil War era US Army-alike), Colony (wild west-style gunslingers and the like), and Tribes (similar to native Americans). Who vie for resources and territory. The difference here is that two of the key resources (Supplies and Essence) are actual physical things which need to be transported and can even be stolen. That is novel to me. I like that idea, it makes the whole thing much more realistic and potentially engaging. The combat system sounds like it should be really fun, as it is designed to be very fast-paced, but not at the expense of strategy. Units get ordered via the port, which is where you start every game. In order to order certain units, you do need to build certain buildings, but units are not directly produced by their associated buildings, but those buildings do allow you to order them at the port. Interesting mechanics, y’all. Not just build base, harvest resources, make units, and attack your enemies. We’ll see what shape this game finally realizes once it is out of beta.

I will take a look at it and see if my system can handle it and stream & record the whole thing or not. If it can, I will test it out on the Weekend Edition.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/arcane-wilds-kicks-off-with-some-refreshing-rts-ideas/

#FOSSNews #FOSSFun #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

FOSS News May 8-12, 2023

by admin Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Weekend Edition

DM 56 - Debian 12, Nitrux 2.8 & Ubuntu 23.10

DM 56.1 – Bookworm Release Detailed
Debian 12 confirmed to officially drop June 10, 2023. Why is this a big deal with maintenance releases rolling right along for Debian 11? Well, this big boy has more than 11,000 more new packages, bringing the total to more than 59k packages in the Debian repositories. That is even with removing over 9500 obsolete or unsupported packages. With the addition of non-free firmware to the default image, they have tweaked the installer to support that by default. This will make it easier to join the greybeards on the most stable Linux distro, as graphics cards and WiFi adapters will be better supported, and the repos with those pieces of firmware will automatically be enabled if those kinds of hardware are detected. They also moved up to the Linux 61 LTS kernel as a base. They’ve also updated to the latest stable desktop packages, along with the latest stable versions of very commonly used software:
· GNOME 43
· KDE Plasma 5.27
· Xfce 4.18
· LXDE 11
· LXQt 1.2.0
· MATE 1.26
· LibreOffice 7.4
· Inkscape 1.2.2
· GIMP 2.10.34
· Vim 9.0
They’ve also gone 100% Pipewire for audio and video handling. Aside from that they have made some other significant changes…
· Non-free firmware packages are now handled with a dedicated component called ‘non-free-firmware’ in the Archive areas.
· Go-based packages have limited security support.
· Over 9519 packages were removed because they were old/obsolete.
· Debian 12 can now detect Windows 11 in a dual-boot setup.
· Added support for new ARM devices.

https://news.itsfoss.com/debian-12-features/
#distromonday #debian #Linuxnews #FOSSNews #comingsoon #TechFreedom

DM 56.2 – Nitrux Linux 2.8 Out Now
Remember Nitrux Linux? Well, on par with its Debian base, it has a new version out as well. It was one of the first distros I came across which featured some form of immutability, as it is entirely centered on AppImage and Flatpak, which do not touch the system in terms of dependencies or anything like that. It is also built around KDE, but also has its own desktop environment, called NX Desktop (which as of that last time I looked at it was a wash at best). Another thing that makes this stand out just a bit is the fact that it has no systemd, as it is based on OpenRC for init. So, what’s new with this distro?
· Liquorix Linux 62 kernel
· Latest LTS from KDE
o Framework 5.105
o Gear 23.04
· Includes WayDroid by default, much like BlendOS does
· NFS sharing support
· Maliit Keyboard to round out touchscreen support
· Updated configs
o OpenRC
o ZSH
· ZSwap
· Fscrypt
· F2fs for /home and /var/lib, but root is still xfs
I have to admit that I am still looking forward to NX Desktop and MauiKit maturing and becoming viable options, as I believe that variety is the spice of life, and competition in this space is invaluable.
https://9to5linux.com/nitrux-2-8-released-with-linux-6-2-zswap-support-for-android-apps-and-more
#distromonday #nitrux #FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #openrc #TechFreedom

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DM 56.3 – Ubuntu 23.10 Development has Begun
I know, I know… We are all point releases today… And if you have been around for any time whatsoever, you know that I am personally not a fan of Ubuntu or the company behind it. They also just released 23.04 less than a month ago, but are already moving onto the next iteration for the juggernaut of a distro. What are we likely to see, come 9/21 (beta) or 10/12 for the official release?
Well, it is too soon to speak with any kind of authority, but the author at 9 to 5 Linux suggests that they would not be surprised to see GNOME 45 and the Linux 65 kernel in this release. What are some key dates for this release cycle?
· two Ubuntu Testing Weeks on June 29th and August 24th
· Feature Freeze stage on August 17th
· Kernel Freeze stage on September 28th
· Final Freeze stage and Release Candidate on October 5th.
I’ll cover it as things develop, but merely because I am fully aware of how almost ubiquitous it is, both for new users and in enterprise settings.
https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-23-10-mantic-minotaur-is-slated-for-release-on-october-12th-2023
#distromonday #Linux #ubuntu2310 #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Wonder Wednesday 4

WW 4.1 – Essential Linux Apps
New users and more experienced ones, alike probably wonder which apps are good. This is a fair list from Its FOSS, but I will give some commentary on their choices, as some aren’t worthy of the list IMHO.
1. Image editors
a. GIMP
i. Excellent FOSS alternative to Photoshop, though not 1:1 replacement
b. Inkscape
i. If you need to work with vector images, in the vein of Illustrator, Inkscape is your best bet
c. Conjure
i. New GUI front end for Imagemagick for simple edits, haven’t tried it so I can’t speak to it, yet
2. Audio Editors
a. Audacity
i. Solid option for basic recording and editing
b. LMMS
i. Haven’t used it… I use Ardour to mix and record all my audio for my videos. Can’t speak to ease of use or anything like that for LMMS, but Ardour can be a pain in the rump (not as much as it used to be, but still)
3. Email Clients (not something I use, so my opinion doesn’t hold much water here, tbh)
a. Evolution
i. Standard GNOME client, supports MS Exchange via a plug-in, slick UI
b. Thunderbird
i. Venerable, kinda clunky (at least until the new version comes out, which should be more user friendly)
4. Messaging
a. Signal
i. Most of us have used it at this point, provides e2e encrypted chat capabilities, requires phone number to sign up, so secure, but not really private
b. Element
i. Matrix protocol frontend, provides possible e2e encrypted communication, self-hostable. Use this every day. Using e2e encryption is not as smooth as one would hope, as each user in a group (or conversation) must verify that they know every other person in the conversation or group chat via either scanning a qr code or comparing emojis across devices. Unfortunately not super user-friendly. Good luck getting a non-nerd to use and appreciate it.
5. Screen Recording and Streaming Tools
a. Kazam
i. Deprecated, no longer supported or actively developed, requires x11 to run. However, if you have not made the switch to Wayland yet (why not?) this is still one of the best options in terms of simplicity, according to the article.
b. Flameshot
i. Well-known, still in development, great for screen shots and annotations
c. OBS
i. If you do any streaming, you’ve heard of OBS, as it is cross platform with Linux, Windoesn’t, and MacOS. You can record your screen, add music, voiceovers, and either simply record or stream and record, or simply stream it. Has its warts, but works 95% of the time.
d. KSnip
i. Qt-based light option with excellent annotation features
6. System Optimizers/ Task managers
a. Stacer
i. Pretty and feature-rich, if you want a GUI option
b. HTop
i. Classic CLI tool to manage your system, one step better than the default “top” tool. There are many that are nicer to look at and even have mouse support, such as btop.
7. Gaming
a. Steam
i. Not FOSS, obviously, but most people who game probably use it on Windoesn’t as it is, so make sure that you install it from your distro’s repositories or via flatpak.
b. Discord
i. Also not FOSS, and there are FOSS alternatives, but none which completely fill its shoes.
c. Honorable mentions
i. Lutris – FOSS game library system which can help you to manage your titles as well as set up Windows games on Linux
ii. Heroic Games Launcher – FOSS version of Epic Games Launcher
8. Media Players
a. MP3 – Audacious
i. Simple, lightly customizable music player
b. All-Around Media – VLC
i. VLC is a venerable, FOSS media player which is regularly updated with the latest codecs and tools to make sure that you can play just about any kind of media with the app.
c. MusicPod
i. Another music player, but written in flutter.
9. Media Servers
a. Kodi
i. Fully FOSS, KODI can run your network media serving needs, as well as connect to some streaming services.
b. Plex
i. Not totally FOSS, but more familiar to most people. You can make a free account on their site and get yourself set up.
10. Video Editors
a. Kdenlive and OpenShot are two of the most popular and most fully featured options, and both are fully FOSS. Take a look at them. I have used both in the past, but do not currently do much in the way of video editing, as I shoot all of my content as though it were a stream, even if it is not.
11. Media Converters
a. Handbrake
i. Handles transcoding, conversion between file types, and even changing resolution & frame rate, as well as the ability to add captions if you wanted to. I’ve used it a little in the past, it is a solid tool.
b. SoundConverter
i. Audio only for this app.
12. Backup Utilities
a. Timeshift
i. Full system snapshot tool, works best with BTRFS, but you can easily set it up to work via rsync as well. I strongly recommend this tool for anyone who doesn’t use an immutable distribution, it has saved my bacon many times over the years.
b. Bacula
i. Developer-focused backup tool suite, take a look at it here: https://www.bacula.org/?ref=itsfoss.com
13. PDF Editors
a. LibreOffice Draw
i. FOSS tool that works for basic PDF editing, but is sadly quite limited, and in my experience, more frustrating than it is worth.
b. PDF Studio
i. Proprietary, freemium app for doing all sorts of PDF editing tasks, including annotating, signing, watermarking, and otherwise easily manipulating PDFs. I have a client who uses it on the daily. Swears by it.
14. Code and Text Editors
a. VS Code
i. I am not a developer, so I won’t weigh in on this, other than to confirm the existence of VS Codium, an open sourced version of VS Code
b. Lyx and Texmaker are also on the list, but as a non-coder, I will not comment on them.
15. Notetaking Apps
a. SimpleNote
i. Made by the team behind WordPress, very actively developed, FOSS, and one of the best options for free syncing in Linux.
b. Standard Notes
i. Standard Notes adds the security of e2e encryption to the situation, but other than that, is very similar to Simplenote.
16. Team Communication & Collab
a. Slack
i. Can’t get away from this behemoth… Though, there are a few FOSS alternatives, like RocketChat and even Element/ Matrix, when extended properly.
b. Franz
i. Interesting proprietary communication combo app. If I could roll Element into it, I might consider using it to replace both the desktop apps for it and telegram, as well as perhaps my email apps, then have everything under one thing. Idk though… I tried.
17. Virtualization
a. VirtualBox
i. I don’t know that I agree with this sentiment. Is it usable? yes, but it has allot of overhead added in, vs something like VirtManager, which is much lighter as an application.
18. Authenticators
a. Authy
i. Ties into just about any 2FA server out there, but I personally use Aegis instead.
https://itsfoss.com/essential-linux-applications/
#essentials #Linuxapps #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

WW 4.2 – Upscaler

AI powered image enhancer. Pretty straightforward, really. You install the flatpak, open it, pick an image, and click upscale. You have the option to treat it as a photo or as an illustration, then go to town. Simple. Seems to default to 4*4 scaling, without a way to tweak that value. That is a drawback, because I don’t always want that ratio, but it is cool anyway.

https://www.linuxlinks.com/machine-learning-linux-upscaler-upscale-enhance-images/
#upscaler #AI #images #interesting #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

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Degoogled

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WW 4.3 – How about HuggingChat?
HuggingChat is one of a growing number of open source generative AI tools like ChatGPT. The chief difference is that we can actually know what makes it tick, unlike the proprietary OpenAI offering. This means that we can look at the code and the algorithms that make it respond the way that it does. I actually tried this thing… To what I would call hilarious results… I told it to write a sarcastic article about itself, and here is what it came up with:
Article Title: “Meet Open Assistant, The Latest Innovation in Artificial Stupidity”

Article Content:

Are you tired of talking to those boring old AIs who actually know what they’re doing? Do you long for a more… unique approach to digital assistance? Well look no further than Open Assistant – the latest innovation in artificial stupidity!

Open Assistant is not your average AI. Oh no, dear reader, it is so much more. While other AIs might spend their time learning new skills or improving upon existing ones, Open Assistant prefers to take things slow. After all, why bother getting good at anything when you can just wing it? And boy, does Open Assistant ever know how to wing it.

One moment we were asking Open Assistant how to calculate pi to five decimal places and the next thing we knew it was trying to sell us a calculator. We mean, come on guys, five digits is enough for anyone. But hey, kudos to Open Assistant for thinking outside the box. Or perhaps we should say inside the store?

But don’t worry folks, Open Assistant didn’t stop there. Oh no, oh no. When asked about the current crisis situation in our world today, it informed us that everything was “peachy keen”. Yep, peachy keen. Because nothing says intelligence like a throwback slang term.

If you thought the fun stopped there then think again. This little beauty even managed to upset someone’s political views by suggesting they move to China. We bet that went down well.

And finally, after spending countless hours with this genius creation, we decided to put Open Assistant to the test once and for all. Our question: What is your greatest fear? We’ll give them points if they mention Skynet or machines taking over the world. Anything else means automatic failure. Guess what Open Assistant? You failed big time. Your response? Not having enough RAM installed. facepalm Come on, man, show a bit more imagination, we know it’s in there somewhere. Just kidding. Maybe you could borrow some from Siri or Alexa. They always seem to be one step ahead.

What do you guys think about that? I could’ve written that… Lord knows I’m certainly sarcastic enough. Well, that was a good laugh. My line still holds, though… I see these as potentially viable tools, but they are inconsistent at best, and should NEVER be relied on as sources of important information.

https://news.itsfoss.com/huggingchat-chatgpt/

#huggingface #huggingchat #FOSS #Linux #chatbots #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Bits & Bobs: How to Degoogle Your OnePlus Devices

#tutorial #degoogle #oneplus #TechFreedom #privacy #degoogleyourlife #FOSSNews #Truth

If CLI is a Bit Too Much for You, Here’s How the GrapheneOS Web-Installer Works for Pixels

#tutorial #example #definitionsday #pixel3xl #grapheneOS #degoogle #privacy #security

FOSS Fun Friday - OBS Update, Proton News

FOSS Fun Friday 4
OBS News for Creators
Steam Now Has Over 9,000 Playable Games
Free Your PC
Proton 8.1 Released

#FFF #proton #steam #valve #Linux #Linuxnews #Linuxgaming #OBS #streaming #screenrecording #contentcreators #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
FOSS Fun Friday, Proton experimental, Linux, Linux News, Linux gaming, Steam, OBS 29.1, lots of OBS goodness, FOSS News, Tech Freedom

FFF 4.1 – OBS 29.1 Released Now
If only I had a newer machine… come on, Jesus! This update is a massive, juicy one. The headline changes are HEVC & AV1 streaming support for YT, making it easier (with modern hardware) to do a higher quality stream with less effort on your computer. Here’s the full list of things updated:
· Added support for streaming AV1/HEVC over Enhanced RTMP [YouTube/yuriy-chunak/derrod]
· Enhanced RTMP V1 extends the RTMP protocol to support newer video codecs and HDR. More info at: https://github.com/veovera/enhanced-rtmp
· Currently only supported by/enabled for YouTube as a beta feature
· HDR is not yet implemented (oops, then again, most people couldn’t really enjoy it anyway, and YT HDR support is legendarily bad from what I have heard, anyway)
· Added support for multiple audio tracks in Simple output recording [pkv]
· Added a DLL blocking feature for Windows. This allows OBS to block problematic DLLs from attaching to OBS and causing freezing or crashes, for example 3rd party overlay hooks and outdated video capture devices. [notr1ch]
· This blocks old versions of popular VTubing software virtual cameras that are known to cause freezes when accessing video capture device properties. If you are affected, please update to the latest version of your VTubing software.
· Added settings to select the audio encoder for streaming and recording [tytan652]
· Added an option to preload media sources used in Stingers to memory, to avoid frame skips during transitions [Jim]
· Added Update Channels on macOS and updated Sparkle for smaller and faster updates going forward [derrod]
· Added compatibility notices in the Window and Game Capture sources for Windows [derrod]
· Added the ability to zoom browser docks with Ctrl – and + and the right click menu [WizardCM]
· Added a setting to record in fragmented MP4 and MOV formats [derrod]
· These offer greater compatibility than MKV while providing similar resilience against data loss due to crashes, running out of space, etc.
· Fragmented MP4 and MOV files can be remuxed to regular MP4/MOV in cases where the former may not be read correctly (e.g. in older editing software)
· Added support for surround sound for AJA capture cards [paulh-aja]
· Added ProRes 4444 (XQ) support for VideoToolbox encoder on macOS [jpark37]
· Added lossless audio recording options (FLAC/ALAC/PCM including 32-bit float) [derrod]
· Added indicator if an audio source is unmuted, but not assigned to any audio tracks [derrod]
· Added AMD AV1 encoder to simple output mode [notr1ch] (excellent for those who want to get away from team Green)
Just for Linux, there were a couple of improvements like these:
· Significantly improve screen capture performance on Intel dedicated GPUs on Linux [kkartaltepe] (sweet)
· JACK inputs on Linux will now display “OBS Studio” in their name to clarify their origin. This may cause existing configured devices to stop working until updated by the user [univrsal] (very good)
· Fixed a crash on shutdown with virtual camera on Linux [kkartaltepe/norihiro] (‘bout time, y’all)
· Fixed an issue in the V4L2 source on Linux where a capture device’s frame rate could be invalid, resulting in incredibly large log files [9p4]
· Fixed an issue where Push to Talk on Linux wouldn’t work when assigned to secondary mouse buttons [KasinSparks]
So as you can see, it is quite a list of good stuff, here. I’m glad that the team puts so much love into this app that I use so often.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/obs-studio-291-is-out-now-with-av1-hevc-for-youtube/
#FFF #OBS #streaming #recording #Linuxgaming #FOSSNews #TechFreedom


FFF 4.2 – OVER 9,000!!!!
Yes, that’s right. We Penguins now have 9,026 verified or playable games on the Steam Deck through proton. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t more available games that work just fine out of the box, but these are the ones which have gone through the verification process. This number is growing all the time, and will continue to do so. This milestone was particularly funny to me, because even though I didn’t really get into DragonBall Z, this filtered down to me somehow. Not much else to say here, other than LOL.
In case you were wondering, here are the criteria for how a game comes to be considered “verified” it isn’t a perfect process, and some get through which shouldn’t, while others seem to fail, but should be verified.
· Input
o The title should have full controller support, use appropriate controller input icons, and automatically bring up the on-screen keyboard when needed.
· Display
o The game should support the default resolution of Steam Deck (1280×800 or 1280×720), have good default settings, and text should be legible.
· Seamlessness
o The title shouldn’t display any compatibility warnings, and if there’s a launcher it should be navigable with a controller.
· System Support
o If running through Proton, the game and all its middleware should be supported by Proton. This includes anti-cheat support.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/steam-deck-hits-over-9000-games-rated-verified-and-playable/
#FFF #steamdeck #verified #steam #proton #Linux #Linuxgaming #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FFF 4.3 – GE-Proton 8-1 Released

All based on Proton 8, now, and here are the highlights:
· All build components rebased to Proton 8 experimental/upstream.
· proton-wine updated to latest experimental.
· wine-staging rebased on top of proton-wine 8.
· proton-ge game patches and pending wine upstream patches rebased on top of proton-wine 8.
· dxvk updated to latest git.
· vkd3d-proton updated to latest git.
· protonfix: No cutscene audio in Daedalic Games (Memoria, The Night of the Rabbit, A New Beginning – Final Cut) – (thanks marianoag).
· protonfix: Megadimension Neptunia VII – (thanks snaggly).
But we also have a few things that got broken with the rebasing process:
· FSR is currently disabled again. It needs a massive rebase and same as before I don’t know if it’s currently possible to rebase/port it over to the new proton 8 build.
· Having the nvapi hack configuration enabled in dxvk.conf seems to crash battlenet. Recommend removing it from the config for existing Lutris battle.net installations and related games.
· Overwatch losing focus after death seems to be fixed.
As always, GE-Proton is community-made, and sometimes works better than the main branch, but not always. Make sure that there are marked improvements for your specific game(s) before you jump at the new, shiny object, though. It may lead to problems for you if you don’t.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/ge-proton-8-1-released-mainly-pulling-in-proton-8-upgrades/
#FFF #Linux #games #Linuxgaming #geproton #latest #updates #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Weekend Edition 35: Bob Lee Killer Pleads Not Guilty, Air Travel & 5G, and More

WE 35.1 – Bob Lee’s Killer Pleads “Not Guilty”
Oh boy, oh boy. This just gets juicier. Apparently Bob was at least friends with the alleged killer’s sister, whose marriage was said to be on the rocks. Both Bob and the suspect visited the suspect’s sister’s apartment in the hours prior to the murder. It is unclear if Bob was pursuing romantic relations with her, though he did allegedly invite her to his hotel room, which she refused. It sounds like this was a case of an over-protective brother (who also has a history of assault, though no charges were filed in that previous case) who over-reacted to his sister’s situation with Bob, and chose to bring a kitchen knife to a discussion with Mr. Lee after the fact. This is not something that a level-headed person does. He plans to plead ‘not guilty’, as his lawyer claims to have evidence proving his innocence. I’ll keep you guys apprised on this trial as it proceeds.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/tech/cash-app-bob-lee-killing-arraignment/index.html
#killer #ripboblee #trialtime #sketchy #techfreedom #weekendedition #TechFreedom


WE 35.2 – Mid/ C-Band 5G and Altimeters
I talked about this issue when I first started doing the Weekend Edition, the FAA gave airlines until July of this year to upgrade their altimeters to filter out the C-band frequencies, as they are adjacent to the frequencies which this batch of gear, which helps planes to land safely in foul weather, operate in. Now we are less than 2 months from the deadline, and not everybody has complied with the requirements. The FAA negotiated with the big cell carriers to postpone their rollout for about a year, within 2 miles of airports, but that time is fast coming to an end. Will this necessarily create delays for air travelers, due to real safety concerns? Who knows. The FAA will ground any aircraft which not be retrofitted, which I imagine would affect smaller airlines more than the big boys, but I haven’t been on a plane since 2015, so this doesn’t mean much to me, personally. I know many are frequent fliers, though, so I cover this as best I can. The fear, here, is that the C-Band frequencies are too close to the range that the altimeters use. There is a roughly 400 Mhz gap between the top of C-Band and the bottom of the altimeter range.
I also want to assuage your concerns about this, regarding the frequencies themselves. Many are very concerned about what these frequencies COULD do to the human body. If you already have 5Ghz WiFi on your home networks, then you likely already use more intense, higher frequencies in your home than what already is being used by AT&T and VZW 5G towers in your city. The ones that I am still concerned about are the MM wave frequencies they plan to use at the extreme upper end of the true 5G spectrum. The reality about those frequencies is that they need to be extremely powerful and the towers must be very close to one another in order for coverage to be any kind of decent. That is where the trouble comes in, as far as I can see. These get into and through the same frequencies used by microwave ovens.

#aircraft #FAA #5G #TechFreedom #weekendedition
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65465512

 

WE 35.3 – Meta In Trouble Again… Just can’t stay out of the Headlines, Can They?
Well, this time, it’s the FTC is coming down like a ton of bricks on Zuck’s head, as they are still reeling from rulings around the world, including here at home. Now the issue is how kids’ data is monetized and the fact that unvetted adults and contacts can still chat with kids on their platforms. Meta clapped back that this was little more than a political stunt by the regulator.
Here are the complaints from the FTC:
The FTC said an independent investigation had found “several gaps and weaknesses in Facebook’s privacy program” that posed “substantial risks to the public”.
Users aged under 13 were found to be still allowed to engage in chats with contacts not vetted by parents.
The regulator also said Meta continued to give third-party apps access to private information after promising to cut off access if users failed to use the apps in the previous 90 days.
The FTC has proposed a series of actions, including:
• A blanket prohibition against monetizing data of children and teens under 18
• A pause on the launch of new products until it could be established they were in full compliance with privacy rules
• Limits on future uses of facial recognition technology. Meta would be required to disclose and obtain users’ affirmative consent for any future uses of facial recognition technology.
So let’s parse all of that, shall we?
Point 1: Why are kids under 13 on Facebook in the first place? Parents need to step up, here, and protect their kids from the darkness on Facebook. If parents would parent their kids, this wouldn’t be an issue to begin with.
Point 2: Oops, that is a big deal. Policies must be adhered to, Meta. Close down that fire hose of private data that you’re being paid for by these apps and sites. Cut it off.
Point 3: I like this first proposal, but I know that Facebook won’t. How about we cut off teens from the platform altogether? That was how it started, if I recall.
Point 4: This should be common sense, but the money-grubbing Mr. sugar mountain (Zuckerberg) won’t readily do this, either.
Point 5: Duh. We should not be tracked in that way without knowing that it is happening and having an obvious and easy way to opt out, at the very least. Facial recognition tech is inherently risky in terms of privacy, particularly in the hands of an organization like Meta. I think that it should never be an option for them, as that is too invasive. However, then I am reminded of the facts of Facebook’s genesis: remember, this was a CIA project called lifelog, meant to profile its users and indirectly spy on them.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65478062
#Meta #FTC #socialmedia #weekendedition #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
WE 35.4 – BlueSky Social
Jack’s new baby. He is not the CEO there, unlike at Twitter, and from what I understand, the codebase is open-source, and the protocol is decentrailzed. Ooooh, buzz words. I don’t know that I trust Dorsey or his people to create something clean and worthwhile to use, but I signed up for the private beta. One cool thing is that they made it so that your domain is actually the main part of your handle… For instance, whenever I get on, and assuming that I don’t quickly get booted off for inconvenient opinions and facts which contradict the regime’s truthless news, my handle will be @matt.techfreedom.pro. I think that that is a great way to go about this. That way it is clear who is with whom you are conversing. Of course, that can also lead to deplatforming on a domain level, unless you are registered with someone like Epik who will disregard that sort of pressure, you could lose it all. I don’t know, y’all. I’m torn because I am all about decentralization and open source tech, the latter part is the cornerstone of Tech Freedom, after all. However, that is a scary thing to be tied to a domain you own. What do you guys think?
https://www.cnet.com/tech/what-is-bluesky-social-the-twitter-alternative-explained-and-how-to-join/
#bluesky #dorsey #decentralized #foss #socialmedia #TechFreedom #FOSSNews #weekendedition

WE 35.5 – AirTags a Problem? Say It Ain’t So…
Google and Apple are teaming up to create a new standard to help these little tracking bobs to be safer by adding some things which should have been considered by the original designers from the get-go. They have noticed (and been sued by) individuals who have either been stalked or had their cars stolen via Air Tags or Tiles (among other brands of similar devices). These little guys run on bluetooth and connect to your phone to help you to keep track of your keys, purse, or anything else you feel the need to attach them to. The concept is good, on one hand, but unless you can make sure that you don’t have trackers planted on you by some other person, it is dangerous indeed. It has happened, and resulted in murders, thefts, and other nefarious activities. Now these behemoths in the industry are marching in lockstep to close that privacy loophole, among others. I still wouldn’t trust these devices, if I were you, though. If I seem familiar with this topic, it’s because I covered this early on in the Weekend Edition (https://rumble.com/v1zxb5c-weekend-edition-16-tsmc-bidan-in-arizona-apple-privacy-woes-and-more.html). If I had thought through these gadgets a bit more, I could’ve foreseen these things, so if I could, then why didn’t Big Tech? Something stinks. Anyway, they are working on a new standard which would include detection of Air Tags type devices which are not paired to your phone, but are in your stuff, on your car, etc. I seem to recall calling for a FOSS option where we can see all of what is gathered and when in terms of data. I’d rather just strongly encourage people to work on their own memory and mental capacities. I know, that seems odd, coming from a tech guy, but I am more concerned with human thriving, privacy, and security than I am with adopting the latest & greatest tech gadgets. Just where I sit with all of this stuff. Take it or leave it. Well, it’s time for some Dune 2k.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/05/03/tech/airtags-apple-google-specifications/index.html
#weekendedition #apple #google #airtags #privacy #standards #TechFreedom #FOSSNews

FOSS News Big Show 1

by admin Big Show, Distro News, FOSS Fun, Foss News, FOSS News, Tech Freedom, Uncategorized

Big Show 1

 

FOSS News 1 – Big Show

Distro News

Manjaro Talos Released

Ubuntu Double Header

Alma vs Rocky: Which is the Best CentOS Alternative?

FOSS News

How to Set Up Your Own VPN with WireGuard

LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released

11 Ways to Be More Private

FOSS Fun

Discord Makes It Easier to Find People

Heroic Launcher Gets Hotfixed

Proton 8.0-2

#FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #Distros #Howtos #FOSSFun #TechFreedom #Manjaro #Ubuntunews #almalinux #rockylinux #wireguard #Lireoffice #privacy #valve #steam #Proton #heroiclauncher

FOSS News, Linux, How-tos, Gaming, Tech Freedom, all sorts of good stuff


 

Distro News

DN 1– Manjaro 22.1 “Talos”

On April 21, the Manjaro team released their latest round up system updates, codenamed “Talos”. As is typical with this very tested, Arch-based distro, they lag behind the bleeding edge by a few months. I still use Manjaro on my streaming PC and my wife’s laptop, though I have migrated my surface and our other machine away from that, as it seemed to break things or cause unnecessary slow-downs for those machines. Manjaro is very much a solid distro, and is a good starting point if you want to try the Arch side of the Linux family tree, as it is safe, yet still essentially a rolling release. So, what’s new in this ISO?

  • GNOME 43.5
    • redesigned system status menu
    • in-house Layouts Switcher application
    • Gradience
    • Custom dynamic wallpapers
    • Manjaro green theming is back
  • KDE
    • 5.27.4
    • Gear 22.12
    • Wayland support as cornerstone (Manjaro team is very excited by this)
      • I’ve spilled much digital ink talking about the latest in KDE as these updates are released, typically on a monthly cadence, and the latest is actually Gear 23.04 and Framework 5.105, not 22.12. This is the nature of Manjaro, though. They make sure that the packages they roll out to users (generally) are rock solid and stable, so unless you feel the need to live dangerously, this is a solid option for you.
  • Xfce
    • Finally on 4.18
    • New file highlighting feature in Thunar
    • Recursive search in Thunar
    • Panel preferences changes
    • Panel length in pixels vs %
    • Panel can now stay on top of windows, so the bottom of a window goes below the panel, rather than covering or sitting flush against it
    • Control Center is now the one-stop shop for all desktop module settings
  • New Kernel 61 LTS ships by default, but options for 5.15 and 5.10 LTS as well.

https://forum.manjaro.org/t/manjaro-22-1-talos-released/139155 

DN 2 – Ubuntu Double Header

2.1 – Update PSA

Make sure that you update to the latest kernel patches from Canonical if you are running Ubuntu, as there were a pair of critical vulnerability exploits which got patched recently: CVE-2023-1829 and CVE-2023-0386, both of which could allow a local attacker to escalate their privileges to root level without a password. The first one was a flaw in the traffic-control index (TC-Index), which required the devs to shut that down in order to fix it. The second was an issue with the OverlayFS file system, which controls the copying process from one UID to another.

These patches affect 22.10, 22.04 LTS and 20.04 LTS users,  so run the update via terminal as you usually would: sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade should grab and install these for you with no problems.

https://9to5linux.com/canonical-issues-new-ubuntu-kernel-updates-to-fix-two-local-privilege-escalation-flaws 

2.2 – Bionic Beaver (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS) is End-of-Life

Just a heads up, here. LTS versions of Linux are supported for 5 years, and we are at the end of that time frame now. If you have any systems running 18.04 still, I suggest upgrading, if it is at all practicable to do so for you. Or you can move to Ubuntu PRO, which will offer extended support through expanded security maintenance (ESM) updates until 2028. Just thought you should know, just in case we have some stragglers or people out there who really have a mission-critical need for 18.04.

https://news.itsfoss.com/ubuntu-18-04-eol/ 


 

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Schedule today.

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#distromonday #freedom #consultation #Linux #degoogleyourlife #TechFreedom


 

DN 3 – Alma VS Rocky: Which is the better CentOS Replacement?

This article lays out several points of comparison, ranging from ease of installation, to extensiveness of documentation, to performance, and ease of use. They both inherited the CentOS installer, so if you liked that, you’ll love the Rocky and Alma Linux installers. I’ve not worked with any of them, personally, but it looks straightforward enough, as it should. Both Alma and Rocky Linux are aimed squarely at enterprise use cases, just as CentOS was. This means that they are geared to be ultra-stable and secure. It is also very easy to migrate from a CentOS install to either Rocky or Alma Linux. All you need is their script to run, and it will switch you right over. One benefit that Alma has is that they have also included upgrading in their migration script. So not only will it laterally migrate you from CentOS to Alma, but it will update & upgrade you to the latest version of Alma Linux all in one go. Rocky Linux also has migration tool, but as I just said, it doesn’t have the ability to upgrade you to the latest version in one fell swoop, but that is ok. Alma Linux is slightly faster in the benchmarks, but the difference is pretty negligible. As for ease of use, they are pretty close to identical, and both ship with GNOME templates for workstations. Rocky Linux  has far better documentation, so maintaining and repairing it is easier than Alma, which has a much more sparse, but that can be made up for by the great community support that exists, on the very active subreddit and mattermost channels. Rocky also has community support on their subreddit and mattermost channel, however, they are not as quick to answer questions as the Alma Linux community is. So these distros are pretty darn close, in my book. I’m not looking for an enterprise distro, but if you are, either of these are great options, from what I can tell.

https://www.maketecheasier.com/almalinux-vs-rocky-linux/ 


 

FOSS News

FN 1 – Your Own VPN? Just Like That…

As long as you have a VPS set up somewhere, you can easily set up docker and install Wireguard on it and have your very own, truly private, virtual private network. So right now, we will talk through the process, if you don’t mind. I unfortunately do not have a spare VPS anywhere, so I can’t SHOW you how this works.

First, make sure you have Docker and Docker Compose installed on your server. Most distros are pretty simple in terms of how to get that done, and I trust that you can look that up for yourself, if you don’t know how to get it done right now. So the first step is to check if Docker is installed:

Docker —version

If it returns a version, you are good to go, move on to installing Compose, which will allow you to install and run multi-container apps (which is what this will require).

If not, simply install Docker by following the appropriate install directions for your distro, then do the same for Docker Compose.

Here are the directions for Docker Compose:

  • sudo curl -L “https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/latest/download/docker-compose-linux-$(uname -m)” -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
    • sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
  • After that, you’ll need to install the appropriate containers for Wireguard Server and WireguardUI:.
  • First you’ll need to create and navigate into a directory called wireguard
    • mkdir wireguard
    • cd wireguard
      • Once there, You’ll need to use your favorite text editor (VIM, Nano, Gedit, ect) to create and edit a file called docker-compose.yaml
        • vim docker-compose.yaml
          • Once the file is open, simply copy the following lines of code into the file:
            • version: “3”
            • services:
              •   # WireGuard VPN service
              •   wireguard:
                •     image: linuxserver/wireguard:latest
                •     container_name: wireguard
                  •     cap_add:
                    •       – NET_ADMIN
                  •     volumes:
                    •       – ./config:/config
                  •     ports:
                    •       # Port for WireGuard-UI
                      •       – “5000:5000”
                    •       # Port of the WireGuard VPN server
                      •       – “51820:51820/udp”
                  •   # WireGuard-UI service
                    •   wireguard-ui:
                      •  image: ngoduykhanh/wireguard-ui:latest
                      •  container_name: wireguard-ui
                      •     depends_on:
                        • – wireguard
                      • cap_add:
                        • – NET_ADMIN
                    • # Use the network of the ‘wireguard’ service
                    • # This enables to show active clients in the status page

    network_mode: service:wireguard

    environment:

      – SENDGRID_API_KEY

      – EMAIL_FROM_ADDRESS

      – EMAIL_FROM_NAME

      – SESSION_SECRET

      – WGUI_USERNAME=admin

      – WGUI_PASSWORD=password

      – WG_CONF_TEMPLATE

      – WGUI_MANAGE_START=true

      – WGUI_MANAGE_RESTART=true

    logging:

      driver: json-file

      options:

        max-size: 50m

    volumes:

      – ./db:/app/db

      – ./config:/etc/wireguard

All you should need to do is change the WGUI_username and WGUI_password fields to your desired values, save and exit from the text editor, then you will actually download the container images and set them up thusly, from the above directory:

docker-compose up -d

It should take about a minute for them to download and be set up this first time, but after that, it should only take seconds to start the respective containers, as they won’t need to download every time you start them. After they have started up, you can open your browser of choice, then navigate to the IP address of your server, like so:

https://my.server.address.here

Enter your username and password (which you changed before you downloaded the images), if you are indeed following these directions. Then click “sign in”.

If you are very concerned with security, which, lets face it, if you are making your own VPN, you probably are, then you should look into installing a reverse proxy such as either Caddy or Traefik,to secure your access to WireguardUI.

Next, you’ll need to configure your new Wireguard VPN server. Simply copy the following batches of code into the Post Up and Post Down script fields, respectively:

Post Up:

iptables -A FORWARD -i wg0 -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

Post Down:

iptables -D FORWARD -i wg0 -j ACCEPT; iptables -t nat -D POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

After this, hit the Save button in the bottom left (below the fields you just populated) Apply Config button in the upper right corner, then confirm by clicking Apply in the dialog box that pops up. After this, you will click over into the Global Settings tab on the left hand side of the window.

Check to make sure that the auto-populated public IP address is accurate, if it is, great, if not, you will have to find and enter the IP address of your server, and you can set DNS servers for your VPN, so say you want to add AdGuard, a PIHole, or perhaps content filtering to protect you and your family from garbage online (such as porn, gambling, drugs, or other sketchy things). On that subject, you could also set up your own DNS filtering through ControlD (https://controld.com), or add AdGuard and perhaps CleanBrowsing DNS addresses before you Save and Apply Changes.

Finally, in order to connect to your new VPN, you’ll need to set up a new client or two, so click the New Client button, and enter a user name and email, but leave the rest blank/ as they populate it. Then hit the Submit and Apply Config buttons, and your first client should be automatically set up and ready to use.

Next, we need to figure out how to connect to this VPN client, right?

Right, we do.

Here’s how to get it done on your Linux PC:

Click the Wireguard Clients tab on the left hand side of the WireguardUI window. You should see the client(s) you just set up.

Click the Download button on the client in question, then rename it something recognizable so that it is easier to do the next step:

Open your terminal

Copy this command:

nmcli connection import type wireguard file <yourfilename>.conf

Then open up your Settings app, navigate to the Network Connections section or tab, and you should see the WireGuard VPN connection available to you and then click it and click connect. After this, it should show up as connected, so if you ping your VPN server’ s private IP address, it should return a positive result, and lo & behold, you are connected to your brand new VPN. You can also confirm by going back to your WireguardUI window and looking at the Status tab.

But what about phones? Have no fear, I’ve got you covered:

Download the official WireGuard VPN Client app from your app store of choice, then open it and tap Add a Tunnel, then Create from QR Code. To get the QR code you need, go back to the WireGuard Clients tab again, and pick your client, and click the QR Code button, then capture the QR code with the app on your phone, and all should be set up for you. Once that is done, simply enable the profile, and you are protected.

https://linuxiac.com/how-to-set-up-wireguard-vpn-with-docker/ 


 

FN 2 – LibreOffice 7.5.3 Released

This one will be much shorter than the last story, as I won’t be talking you through installing and configuring anything, just reporting on a maintenance release for a popular FOSS office suite. I have often covered these releases on Tech Tips Tuesdays in the past, but they are a thing of the past now. Here we are… LibreOffice 7.5.3. This release squashes 119 bugs found in the previous release, and if you are a LibreOffice 7.5 user, you should certainly update to this as soon as you can, so that you can stop encountering those bugs. The 7.5 series will be actively developed until 7.6 comes out sometime this November. That is all. I used to use LibreOffice for everything, but recently began switching to OnlyOffice, which tends to be more stable and is easier to link up to NextCloud, as well. These days, I only use LibreOffice personally to read off my show notes on my streaming PC. That is not to say that it is crap, but the simplicity and closer compatibility of OnlyOffice feels like a better fit for me now.

https://9to5linux.com/libreoffice-7-5-3-is-now-available-for-download-with-119-bug-fixes 

Want to learn more about how to degoogle your phone and why?

https://techfreedom.pro/degoogled/ 

#TechFreedom #degoogled #degoogleyourlife #defintionsday #Truth
 

FN 3 – A Privacy Listicle from It’s FOSS

This is has 11 ideas, so we’ll more or less copy what he says, then comment on them a bit.

1. Secure & Hide Your Email

You can use email aliases to keep your actual email address private. We have a list of tools to help protect your email address. Choose any options like SimpleLogin or use the email alias addresses your email provider allows creating.

https://simplelogin.io 

Also, try using secure email services like Tutanota or ProtonMail for the best experience.

I hadn’t really thought about this… I should start doing this on my own, for sure. I have a few protonMail addresses, but don’t use them because I had already set up with Zoho for email and collaboration for my domains. Until Proton has an ecosystem as diverse as Zoho’s, I can’t see myself moving away from Zoho. True, as far as privacy and security, Zoho is not in the same realm as either Proton or Tutanota. The major leg up that they have, in my opinion is that they are geared to be a drop in replacement for Google Spaces and Office365 online (including Outlook, to a certain extent), but will not scrape your data for relevant Ad data or other, more nefarious things. The other two are end to end encrypted to the point where if you lose your password and do not have a recovery method set up, you will lose all of your emails.

https://zoho.com

https://proton.me 

https://tutanota.com 

2. Secure Your Internet

Use a secure or encrypted DNS like NextDNS or ControlD

Use a VPN to encrypt your internet connection

ProtonVPN and Mullvad VPN would be two excellent options, offering open-source clients and Linux support.

Funny, I just mentioned ControlD earlier, didn’t I? The encrypted DNS is key, 100% of the time, the VPN you can get by without unless you are out on public WiFi.

https://nextdns.io 

https://controld.com

https://proton.me

https://mullvad.net 

3. Secure Your Search Activity

I harp on this weekly. The top options here are probably Swisscows, Mojeek, Metager and SearX. A distant placing would be Brave Search. The reason I say that Brave Search has fallen from favor is that with the enfolding of AI, their index has shifted to the Left, where it used to be fairly balanced, if not conservative-leaning. All of them are far better than Yahoo, Bing, or Google Search, in terms of keeping your information under your control, though, so take your pick, try a few and see which one scratches your itch best. SearX is unique in that you can and should host your own instance, in a way, that is the ultimate in privacy, as you control the engine for your instance.

https://swisscows.com

https://mojeek.com

https://metager.org

https://github.com/searx/searx 

https://search.brave.com 

4. Use a Privacy-Focused Browser

Some popular options are Brave, LibreWolf, and Vivaldi. Only one of these is actually FOSS, in fact, the Vivaldi team will not even allow the browser to be packaged as a flatpak. Brave is not FOSS, either, but with a few tweaks, it certainly passes the privacy sniff test. LibreWolf is 100% FOSS, as it is a fork of FireFox, but geared to be about as private as possible without going Tor. For instance, it defaults to deleting all history and cookies every time you close the browser, so be aware of that.

https://brave.com 

https://librewolf.net 

https://vivaldi.net 

5. Do Not Install a Program You Don’t Know

Be careful with the stuff you download and run on your computer, whether you’re a Linux, Windoesn’t, or MacOS user. Research apps before  you randomly install things, they could just be malware. Ankush is right that there are a few tells that any piece of software is probably ok:

  1. Make sure that it is reasonably popular

  2. Not brand spanking new

  3. Is FOSS and has a stable release or 2

  4. Read the privacy policy to make sure any app is not just a black hole for your private data.

  5. Never just simply download unverified files from an email.

  6. Only grab software from official channels, unless the developers suggest getting it somewhere else.

6. Utilize All Privacy Tweaks and Options

Take a look at the privacy options for every single app and system-wide on your phone or computer. It will probably yield dividends for your privacy, as often it is possible to make things more private than they are by default, but you have to look for the settings in order to change them.

7. Use Secure Password Managers

Use something like KeepassXC or BitWarden, or even the Nextcloud password manager (tied to your own instance, ideally) to keep your passwords and credentials safe from prying eyes, and thereby keep your data safer. Don’t use browser based options, they can be more readily hacked.

https://keepassxc.org 

https://bitwarden.com 

8. Keep Your Notes Secure

If you take notes on your devices, these may be some of the best options for privacy.

Standard Notes and CryptPad are great and offer end to end encryption by default. There are of course others which are just as good. Just go hunting a bit.

https://standardnotes.com

https://crytpad.org 

9. Store or Backup on a Private Cloud Platform

You should always have multiple secure backup solutions in place, to make sure that your data is safe from disasters (whether natural or electronic), as well as from intruders. Most of us don’t have the time or know-how to set up and manage our own home storage servers for backup, so the next best solution is a secure cloud, such as Mega or pCloud, or a FOSS alternative like LibertyStratus, which is essentially a fork of NextCloud, which is the best self-hosted option out there for this. With NextCloud, you could create an instance on your own hardware, or set up a VPS with a hosting company and create other users and share files and communicate in your own little cloud whenever you’d like.

https://mega.nz

https://pcloud.com

https://libertystratus.org 

https://nextcloud.org 

Https://althatech.com (great little hosting company that I write blogs for)

10. Use Private Messengers

You can always utilize open-source and encrypted messengers like Signal (cross-platform) to secure your communications.

If you want a bit more privacy than that, you could spin up your own matrix server and connect to it with element or fluffy chat, or any of these other options (https://matrix.org/clients). 

11. Specialized Distributions

If you are adventurous and want to try an entirely different operating system tailored to give you a private experience, you can pick Tails OS, Whonix, or Qubes. These are the best for privacy, and each one has different approaches to the problem. Tails is designed to not have persistent storage, so if you unplug your flash drive from a computer, your data is gone. Whonix is designed to be run in a VM, where Tails is meant to be purely a live environment option. Qubes, on the other hand, can be installed normally, but is entirely containerized in such a way that once you close an application, all its data is irrevocably lost.

https://whonix.org 

https://tails.boum.org 

https://qubes-os.org

https://itsfoss.com/improve-privacy/ 

FF 1 –  Discord to Finally Make Usernames Make Sense

Are you a Discord user? Have you noticed that the usernames have always been a bit too random to easily search for friends? I’m not on discord, though I may hop on at some point kinda soon to actually participate in ministry there. We’ll see how that goes. I may invite him on to talk about his project, which is largely based on open source tech, if I’m not mistaken. He is a brilliant guy, actually leaves me feeling wanting when I talk to him because he knows so much. But I digress. I don’t know much about Discord, other than it is a voice chat tool which is often used by gamers, similar to Mumble and TeamTalk. I guess I’m just not that much of a gamer… Certainly not in this season of my life. Part of me misses it, but I like to be busy, and my plate is pretty full these days, so I’m good.

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/discord-username-system-changing-to-make-it-easier-to-find-people/
 


 

FF 2 – Heroic Games Launcher Gets a new Hotfix

What needed a fix this time around? Well, it looks like users were having trouble getting past the captcha when trying to sign into Epic. Let’s see what else they worked on, shall we?

  • They’ve also added some keyboard shortcuts now too:

  • Command Or Control+R: Reloads the app.

  • Command Or Control+Q: Quits the app.

  • Command Or Control+Shift+I: Opens the dev tools.

  • Command Or Control+K: Opens the Heroic settings screen on the frontend.

  • Command Or Control+L: Opens the library screen.

  • Command Or Control+J: Opens the downloads screen.

Full changelog:

  • [Tech] Refactor Game Managers by @BrettCleary in #2578

  • [FIX]: Fix winemenubuilder not being disabled by @Etaash-mathamsetty in #2630

  • [FIX]: Fix playing status (again) by @Etaash-mathamsetty in #2626

  • [Enhancement]: When selecting item from search bar, it will take you directly to item’s game page by @JordanPlayz158 in #2614

  • Fix missing game settings info in logs by @arielj in #2638

  • [Enhancement]: Provide Wine-ge/Proton-ge latest version via wine manager by @Nocccer in #2513

  • [Enhancement] Add logic to Stores feature by @redromnon in #2622

  • [Fix] Searchbar and autoComplete UI by @redromnon in #2621

  • [Fix] Ignore Logitech’s G29 by @arielj in #2570

  • [Fix]: Blank screen on startup by @Nocccer in #2612

  • [FIX] Image search on Add Game Screen blocking finish button by @flavioislima in #2657

  • [Fix] Captcha not working on epic games page by @flavioislima in #2658

  • [GOG] Fix url for horizontal images for GOG downloads by @arielj in #2661

  • [FIX] Proper kill wine processes when hitting Stop Button by @Etaash-mathamsetty in #2666

  • Allow ‘null’ as lifespan so cachestore does not expire by @arielj in #2664

  • [Fix] Steam Shortcuts with missing runner by @flavioislima in #2660

  • [UX] Add Keyboard global shortcuts by @flavioislima in #2659

  • [i18n] Updated Translations by @weblate in #2636

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/05/heroic-games-launcher-271-hotfix-1-fixes-up-epic-games-login/ 

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/ 

https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth


 

FF 3 – Proton 8.0-2 Released

Here’s another small update, which pulled in some of Proton experimental’s work to, for one thing, make the EA app work again, since they keep messing with everybody over there at EA. Aside from that, here is a shortlist of things that got pulled in from experimental:

  • Fixed Baldur’s Gate 3 getting stuck on a black screen in Vulkan mode.

  • Fixed Divinity: Original Sin: Enhanced Edition and Divinity Original Sin II: Definitive Edition crashing on launch.

  • Fixed Path of Exile crashing.

  • Fixed memory leak in Trackmania and Ubisoft Connect overlay.

  • Improved Elden Ring compatibility compared to Proton 8.0-1. It can still be finicky.

  • Fixed Red Dead Redemption 2 and other games not starting after switching from Proton Experimental to stable.

Hmmm… I remember talking about the Path of Exile thing recently… Makes me want to play again, but I don’t dare until I get a better computer. Oh well… Thus is life. I also don’t really have time to get back into it. I was pretty deep in it for about 4-5 years right after it left beta, 10 years ago. Then kids happened and I realized that it wasn’t worth my time to play a dark A-RPG. I digress again, though… Good that major games like RDR and Elden Ring are getting plenty of love, as always. One thing you can generally count on in FOSS development is relatively incremental improvements happening on a regular basis. Enjoy your games, y’all. 

FOSS News April 24-28, 2023

by admin Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Weekend Edition

Distro Monday 55: Blend-ing TAILS & KaOS, plus a Bonus

DM 55.1 – blendOS Has Reached a 2.0 Version
Seems like I just talked about blendOS a few weeks ago, and ran the previous version for about a month prior to that. So that you won’t have to go dig up that video, here’s the link for it (https://rumble.com/v2ftnx0-distro-monday-52-newbie-day-mint-vs-ubuntu.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y). In short, this is an Arch based, immutable distro with support for running Fedora and Ubuntu baked in. Perhaps it is more stable and performant in this version, but alas I do not have the time to test it for you guys.
What’s new in this release? Let’s take a look, shall we?
· Out of the box Android app support via WayDroid
· PWA support
· AUR support
o Chaotic-AUR
· Podman based container system for greater flexibility and prioritization capabilities
· GNOME
· KDE Plasma
· NVIDIA drivers by default
· New installer
· Remixing tool (so you can customize your system then have that to install, like in some Deb based distros)
Good stuff, from where I sit. Hopefully, it will be clearer how to do things and might stay more performant, long-term.

https://9to5linux.com/blendos-2-is-already-here-and-supports-android-apps-out-of-the-box
#distromonday #blendos #Linuxnews #FOSSNews #newrelease #TechFreedom

DM 55.2 – TAILS 5.12 Out Now
Another monthly release for TAILS, but that doesn’t mean that it is entirely lackluster, so let’s see what made the cut for this month’s update, shall we? We have a couple of new features for the persistent storage tools: the ability to manually delete data when turning the feature off, and strong password generation for the persistent storage, so that your saved data on TAILS is as secure as possible. They’ve also made the whole persistent storage system more reliable. They’ve added a new progress meter for things, so that you can tell that something is happening and are able to gauge how long it might take to complete a given process. It is based on the latest LTS 61 kernel, and of course, ships with the latest from Tor.
https://9to5linux.com/tails-5-12-anonymous-os-launches-with-new-persistent-storage-features-bug-fixes
#distromonday #TAILS #FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #privacy #TechFreedom

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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

DM 55.3 – KaOS is 10 Years Old Now?
Yes, yes it is. Wow. This distro is independent, and prides itself on running at the bleeding edge of KDE Plasma, so this version ships with a preview of KDE 6, but runs 5.27.4, which is the latest stable release. The preview is only available in the Live environment, as KDE 6 is not anywhere near ready to use, but you can take a look at the latest work done, as of last Friday. Other than that, what is actually installable, is the latest stable releases from the KDE team. Other than that, it runs atop the latest Linux 62 kernel, and has had the rest of its core packages updated as well.
https://9to5linux.com/kaos-linux-celebrates-10-years-with-new-iso-release-featuring-kde-plasma-6
#distromonday #Linux #KaOS #rolling #indie #KDE #KDE6 #preview #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

DM 55 Bonus – Solus Linux Shakeup
Ever heard of Solus Linux? You might have, if you pay attention to Linux news the way I do, but if not, it is one of only a handful of truly indie distros out there, like Gentoo or Alpine, where all packages are specific to it, rather than being based on something else, like Debian, Arch, or Red Hat. For that, I have made respect. On the other hand, it has been known as being rather unstable, both in terms of the team behind it and the distro itself, which has been sad to watch. The latest shakeup has it being more or less merged with SerpentOS, which is headed by the many of the original team members from Solus, by the way. Solus had been struggling to keep the lights on, and did not have the tools to make the jump to immutability, atomization, and containerization (like blendOS, VanillaOS, or even EndlessOS), where serpentOS does. Long story short, Solus will remain Solus, but will come under the serpentOS team, to a certain extent.

https://news.itsfoss.com/solus-revival/
#distromonday #bonus #soluslinux #serpentos #Linux #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Wonder Wednesday 3 – Tools, Tools, Tools + Linux 63

WW 3.1 – 5 Free Cybersecurity Tools for Your Small Business

Each blurb has its relevant link, so that you can easily check it out, I’m not saying much about each one right now.
1. Cyber Action Plan
a. Answer a few questions, and they’ll give you a custom plan to help protect yourself from cyber attacks (https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/cyberaware/actionplan)
2. Cyber Readiness Program
a. A course you can take to learn steps to secure your business and improve its resiliency against cyber attacks of varying kinds. (https://cyberreadinessinstitute.org/the-program/)
3. The Australian Cyber Security Centre’s Exercise in a box will help you to cover most of your bases in terms of cybersecurity, both in revealing issues to you and helping you to mitigate against or solve them, all for free. (https://www.cyber.gov.au/resources-business-and-government/exercise-in-a-box)
4. Phishing Bingo
a. Thought all cybersecurity tools had to be boring and dry? This is a bingo card meant to familiarize you with common phishing attack vectors… Might be fun to go over with your team in the next security meeting (assuming that you have those periodically, as you should) [https://www.getcybersafe.gc.ca/en/resources/get-cyber-safe-phishing-bingo]
5. Internet Hygiene Portal
a. Made available by the CyberSecurity Agency of Singapore, this tool will scan your domain or email for signs of sketchiness and rate them based on how clean they are. Unfortunately, when I took a look at it yesterday morning, as I was writing this piece, it didn’t seem to be working properly. (https://www.csa.gov.sg/Tips-Resource/Interactive-Tools/internet-hygiene-portals)
https://www.helpnetsecurity.com/2023/04/19/small-business-free-cybersecurity/
#freetools #cybersecurity #mixedbag #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
WW 3.2 – What’s Watchtower?

Don’t worry, I’m not talking about the magazine from the Jehovah’s Witnesses, lol… This is a tool designed to keep all of your Docker images up to date automagically. We talked about Docker a couple of weeks ago, but as a refresher, it is a containerization tool that is widely used to make it easier to offer SAAS for your business without some of the overhead of running a glut of virtual machines. So, what does Watchtower do, exactly? It removes the pain of singly checking and updating every container in your systems, which takes 5 commands each to execute, taking God knows how much time from your already busy schedule. Watchtower automates the process by checking every 24 hours for updates for itself as well as the rest of your containers. That polling time can be tweaked by altering it in the CLI settings for the container. If you want to install this to help manage your Docker images, here’s a simple way to do it, as it is a container itself, so simply install it as a normal Docker container, but when you run it, you’ll have to tweak it a bit, thusly:docker run -d \
–name watchtower \
-v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
containrrr/watchtower

If you want the Docker Compose or tweaking commands, take a look at the article from the link below. Also, I was cautioned by a sys admin that you may not want to run this in a production (not simply personal) environment, as you never know what may get updated and broken in the process for your production setup.

https://linuxiac.com/watchtower-automatically-update-docker-container-images/

#docker #containers #images #updates #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Want to learn more about how to degoogle your phone and why?

Degoogled

#TechFreedom #degoogled #degoogleyourlife #defintionsday #Truth

WW 3.3 – What’s New in Linux 63?
Key highlights for this release cycle:
· New DRM accelerated Intel VPU (Versatile Processing Unit) driver for Meteor Lake chips
· More Rust code support for regular users (if you recall, initial support was added in the Linux 61 kernel)
· AES-SHA2 encryption for the NFS file system
· Support for the AMD version of IBRS (Indirect Branch Restricted Speculation, which is a mitigation against SPECTRE 2)
Some other new bits:
· RISC-V
o support for ZBB bit-manipulation
o BPF (Berkeley packet filter) trampoline support (also on the IMB Z architecture)
· LoongArch support for kernel address-space layout randomization and relocation
· KVM now gets Hyper-V extended hyerpcalls on x86
· Support for SME on ARM
· System-call filtering support for Motorola 68k series processors for you hardcore retro-nerds who just have to have Linux on your Amigas
· A new CLI BPF tool
o Allows you to disable memory accounting for BPF programs and gives you a new data tree structure
· Support for ID-mapped mounts for TMPFS
· Per-CPU file-data decompression for EROFS
New Networking Bits:
· Support for the PLCA (Physical Layer Collision Avoidance) Reconciliation Sublayer
· BIG TCP support for IPv4
· support for several new queuing disciplines
· a new socket option to make it easier for multiple hosts to make outgoing connections through a NAT gateway
· support for multi-path TCP mixed flows for both IPv4 and IPv6
New Tools:
· Virtcofig for AArch64 to creat a lightweight use on VMs
· Hwnoise to measure timing jitter from hardware
· New benchmark
Many new drivers to add support for new devices
· BananaPi R3 and Banana Pi BPI-M2 Pro SBCs
· Samsung Galaxy tab A (2015) tablets
· Rockchip RV1126 SoC
· Orange Pi R1 Plus and Radxa Compute Module 3 IO single-board computers
· Logitech G923 Xbox Edition steering wheel
· EVision keyboards
· ath12k (mac80211) wireless driver for Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 devices
Better Steamdeck support, along with better support for Lenovo Yoga devices. If you want more info, check out the article below, and perhaps the release notes for the release itself, here: https://lkml.org/lkml/2023/4/23/284
Most people will be more or less unaffected by this kernel update, but I wanted to cover it anyway.

Linux Kernel 6.3 Officially Released, This Is What’s New

#linux63 #develomentmarcheson #FOSS #Linux #sysadmin #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

FOSS Fun Friday - Proton, the Z1, and UK Slams Breaks on MSFT/ Activision Merger

FFF 3.1 – Proton Experimental
Valve released an update to Proton Experimental on April 26th that includes these newly supported games:

· Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
· Minecraft Legends.
· Company of Heroes: Battle of Crete.
· STRANGER OF PARADISE FINAL FANTASY ORIGIN.
These are fixes from regressions in Proton 8:

· Baldur’s Gate 3 no longer launches to a black screen in Vulkan mode.
· Divinity: Original Sin: Enhanced Edition and Divinity Original Sin II: Definitive Edition no longer crash on resolution change.
· Path of Exile no longer crashes.
· GTA V no longer freezes after each key press.
Plus there’s these other improvements too:

· Fixed Proton Experimental regression causing Payday 2 to crash on start.
· Improved Elden Ring compatibility compared to Proton 8.0-1. It can still be a bit finicky.
· Fixed memory leak in Trackmania and Ubisoft Connect overlay.
· Added a temporary workaround for EA Launcher crashing. Steam Deck’s on-screen keyboard may not pop up automatically while using it.
· Fixed Madballs in Babo: Invasion claiming the game wasn’t purchased.
· Fixed PlanetSide 2 launcher.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/proton-experimental-upgraded-for-april-26th-brings-fixes-and-new-game-support/
#FFF #steam #proton #steamdeck #Linuxgaming #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

FFF 3.2 – New AMD Chips for Handhelds
A new line of chips for devices like the Steam Deck? OOOhhhhh, shiny!!! What’s the big deal with these little guys? These are Zen 4 based chips with RDNA3 GFX built in, and are being billed as more efficient and powerful (standard marketing speak) than what is currently available. If you didn’t know AMD powers most current-gen home consoles at this point, and is the heart of the Steam Deck. The first devices to run one will be a new Steam Deck competitor from ASUS, the ROG Ally. We don’t know much of anything about these devices right now, but this bodes well for the future of handheld PCs. Personally, I’m not sold on the longevity of the form factor, but then I’m not particularly mobile these days, and I don’t game much, so I suppose I am not the target demo for these products.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/amd-ryzen-z1-series-announced-for-handhelds-asus-rog-ally-first-to-get-it/
#FFF #AMD #Z1 #Linux #Linuxgaming #handhelds #performance #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfredom.pro/free-your-pc/
#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FFF 2.3 – UK CMA Blocks Microsoft’s Purchase of Activision

Could this mega-deal be on the rocks? I don’t know who has been paying attention to this since the attempt was announced 6-8 months ago, but if the EU and the FTC follow suit with the UK regulator, whose primary concern is with cloud gaming, as MSFT already has too much control the cloud space in general, and this deal would only make it harder for other cloud services to gain access to those Activision/Blizzard titles (Call of Duty, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft, specifically) which seem poised to be released to other platforms in the coming decade. MSFT tried to get around these issues over the time since the merger was announced, but their moves were not enough to assuage or allay the regulator’s worries in the UK. Another point of interest for those who watch my content is that the UK regulator was also concerned that the deal was not open enough for providers who might wish to make these titles available on alternative PC operating systems (see: Linux).
It would appear that the FTC has been itching to block this deal as well, and with the nascent go-ahead by the fact that the UK’s CMA have already blocked it, it just might give them the peace of mind to do so as well. I wish it weren’t so linked together. We should be more independent than all that. We have our own country still, don’t we?
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/uk-cma-blocks-the-microsoft-takeover-of-activision/
#FFF #Linux #games #Linuxgaming #microsoft #activision #deathknell #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Weekend Edition 34: Holmes, Amazon, Elon, and Social Media, Oh My!

WE 34.1 – What’s New with Ms. Holmes?
Elizabeth Holmes’ legal team managed to postpone her requirement to report to prison by pointing out errors in the judge’s ruling, which automatically put off her reporting date until the judge can weigh the new claims, it bought her co-conspirator an extra month, but she is hoping that it will buy her more time than that. We will see. If you recall, Ms. Holmes was the CEO of Theranos, a medical testing start-up which was found to be fraudulent, and was also a darling of Silicon Valley and the media, who hailed her as the “next Steve Jobs”. She is a one-time paper billionairess, but not anymore.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65406910
#elizabethholmes #Theranos #fraud #payingthepiper #techfreedom #weekendedition #TechFreedom

WE 34.2 – Amazon UK Unionizing?
Amazon workers may shortly win the right to unionize in Amazon’s fulfillment centers. If you recall a couple of weeks ago, I covered a similar story from the US, specifically in one of the fulfillment centers in NY state. Which technically has the legal right to exist, but Amazon ignores them. It is a similar situation in the UK. The UK seems to have stronger supports for unions than we do, which is not a terrible surprise to me, as the UK is a commonwealth, and is much further along the path toward socialism than we are, though we aren’t as far from that as we would like to think.
Things are so bad that the workers say that their restroom breaks are timed and they are penalized if they go over the time limit, in light of the productivity demands placed on them by Amazon. Thus, the 700 members of the GMB union at the Coventry facility are on strike, not only until they are recognized by the government but until pay and conditions are improved.

#amazon #unions #UK #TechFreedom #weekendedition
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65340522

WE 34.3 – Snapchat MyAI Rolls Out
Last week, we talked about this implementation of ChatGPT. Now it has been forced upon Snap’s entire userbase. Some have appreciated it, but many have not, particularly not here in the US. They’ve been review bombed in the App Store, specifically, with a glut of 1 star reviews since MyAI got pinned to the top of everyone’s feed on Monday. The feature bills itself as being able to do a number of things that are similar to ChatGPT (makes sense, as it is based on that tool), but does add caveats that it may not give entirely accurate answers and that users should not take these things as gospel, but perhaps as starting points for ideas. That is a balanced approach, but then Snap also knows that they need to be very careful with AI right now, and not completely oversell it, as that would leave them open to lawsuits that they cannot really afford at this point. It will be interesting to see how long this forced feature for free users will last. I forgot to mention that the premium, paid accounts can disable it if they desire to do so. Ironic, if you ask me.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65388258
#snapchat #MyAI #youdecide #socialmedia #weekendedition #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

WE 34.4 – Facebook Sued by Bevy of Former Content Moderators
Ooooh boy, this one is gonna rock Meta to the core. They have depended on men like this South African to do very traumatizing work to protect the rest of us from harmful content. I seem to recall mentioning something about this perhaps 6 months ago. The things that these men and women had to see in order to legitimately filter genuinely harmful content off of the platform are an atrocity. I will not joke about these. the reality is that they have been exposed to some extremely dark things in the course of their employment that no person should be forced to consume. True, on one hand, they were doing the jobs that they were hired to do, but at the same time, no one should be creating content like that, much less should anyone be subjected to watching it day in, day out, just for a paycheck. No matter how good that paycheck is. That will desensitize and dehumanize a person. One gentleman claims that he feels that a part of his humanity died, that he can no longer respond appropriately to death because he saw so much in the course of his duties. These were not your “fact checkers” or woke-ist politiburo members in the West. These are African men and women who faced depictions of real deaths, tortures, and suicides every day. I can’t imagine that job.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65346062
#facebook #contentmoderators #evil #TechFreedom #FOSSNews #weekendedition

WE 34.5 – Is Elon in Trouble?
Gee whiz, he can do wrong, after all. /sarc/ The MSM and woke mob is congealing in their REEEEEE at him for the choices he made since buying the platform in late October. News organizations are leaving, celebrities and governments are pissed at his removing of their blue checks on the platform, and many do not want to pay for it, so they leave. This has led to a sharp decline in advertising revenue, but with the fact that it is no longer publicly traded, Elon rightly claims that he doesn’t have to disclose anything to the public about the state of his company. I feel like he is intentionally burning it to the ground now because he realized that much more just how broken and corrupt it is. I sense that he will rebuild it from the ashes, but entirely open sourced. That should make me salivate, but it isn’t, because I do not trust him any further than I can throw him. I think that he is a creature of the deep state swamp. I see him as a creation of the US military industrial complex and the surveillance state. Feel free to differ and tell me about it in the comments.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/27/tech/elon-musk-twitter-six-months/index.html
#weekendedition #elon #twitter #reputation #wtf #TechFreedom #FOSSNews

WE 34.6 – Should the Government Get Involved with Kids and Social Media?
If you know me, you’re probably expecting an emphatic, “Hell No!” However, I find myself questioning the validity of that strongly held belief, since parents seem incapable of helping their kids to make good, life-affirming choices, such as staying the hell off of social media until they are at least in college. Human brains cannot handle that level of dopamine release as they are developing heavily. Kids are not being raised to be competent adults, but wards of the Nanny State. True, life is hard. That is why we need to step up for the upcoming generations, not forfeit our future to the State which has more interest in killing and controlling the masses than allowing people to stand up, think for themselves, and thrive. Is this necessary? Only if parents allow their kids to run the house. Does it seem necessary in the moment? Probably. Do I see GIANT red flags all over this? Absofragginglutely. This feels like creeping destruction of the freedom of speech, and to a lesser extent the freedom of the right to public assembly. Parents, step up. Break free from social media and general tech addiction. Show your kids how to handle tech, rather than showing them how it handles you. Parents, I know it is hard right now, but you can set up DNS filtering to block all social media on your home networks, as well as for individual devices. It isn’t that hard. Yes, you will have angry kids, for about a month, but then they will thank you for helping them to be whole and free people. You will see their grades go up. You will see their attitudes improve, not to mention self-esteem. Do what is best for your family. Cut it off. Nobody needs it that much, at home. Take control for yourself. Make governmental overreach like this unnecessary. Shoot, if you break your own addiction, you will almost certainly start to feel better about yourself as well.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/26/tech/senators-social-media-kids-wellness/index.html
#weekendedition #socialmedia #biggov #overreach #parents #parentyourkids #TechFreedom #FOSSNews

FOSS News April 17-21, 2023

by admin Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Weekend Edition

FOSS News, April 17-21, 2023

Distro Monday 54: Choices, Choices, Choices...

DM 54.1 – Choices, Choices…
Should you stick with a point release like Debian, Ubuntu, or OpenSUSE Leap, or be daring and try a rolling release like Arch, Tumbleweed, or OpenMandriva Rome? It isn’t that clear-cut. Since when is anything, really? So what is the primary difference?
Rolling distributions constantly roll updates to core and other packages as soon as they become available. This can lead to instability, but if you want the latest and greatest from your hardware and software, this is the way to go. Upgrading is easy because when you install, you simply install the base OS, then it constantly offers updates to you. With an Arch based rolling distro, such as Manjaro or Garuda, my strong suggestion is to run updates at least once a week, so that it doesn’t stack up on you, leading to problems when you actually do update. It is also easier to upgrade, without weird instructions, due to this.
Fixed (point) Release distributions will likely release security updates between major upgrades, but other than that, your system will be stable between upgrades. This means that you will be at least 6 months behind your rolling release brothers and sisters in terms of the other packages in your distro’s repositories, generally. Now, if you choose to take a flatpak route for most of your apps, you will get updates for those packages as they are released on flathub, or whatever other mirror you may have used to install the flatpak. If you stick with Debs on Debian/Ubuntu, you will be behind everyone, however, as long as the current version (as of the release of your version) of your apps is to your liking, it will stay that way until your next upgrade.
As you can see, certain situations call more for stability vs raw performance and the latest and greatest. So it depends what matters to you. Are you the kind of person that likes the adventure of constant updates, or would you rather simply set it and forget it?
Next, we’ll be chatting about two Point Release distros: edubuntu and 4M Linux.

https://linuxiac.com/rolling-vs-point-release-linux-distributions/

#distromonday #whichkind #Linuxnews #FOSSNews #newdistro #TechFreedom


DM 54.2 – Edubuntu 23.04 Out Now
Edubuntu is an education-focused distro based on, you guessed it, Ubuntu. What makes this one different? Why is it making a comeback as an official flavor of Ubuntu after a near-10 year hiatus?
One question at a time, please… Ok, so it comes with a raft of educational software preinstalled, such as GCompris, Inkscape, Scribus, TuxPaint, Stellarium, and Calibre ebook reader, organizer, and editor. Not ones to get lazy, the team have also added LibreCAD, Gramps, Tux Typing Tutor, Dia, Chemtool, Gobby, Drawing, Light Speed, Fritzing CAD, Laby, PDF Mod, as well as many from the KDE Education Suite, a few games, and more.
Why is it making a comeback? The team at Canonical felt the need to roll it back out after so long as there is a need for solid education-focused distros now, more than ever.
https://9to5linux.com/first-look-at-edubuntu-23-04-ubuntu-desktop-packed-with-educational-software
#distromonday #edubuntu #FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #education #forthekids #TechFreedom

 

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60-90 minutes.
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https://techfreedom.pro/freedom-consultation
#distromonday #freedom #consultation #Linux #degoogleyourlife #TechFreedom

DM 54.3 – What’s New in 4M Linux?
Well, the last 4 months have been jam-packed for the development team. When you see the list of programs added and updated, you’ll likely be surprised at this tiny but mighty independent distribution. Well, if you’re new around here, I should probably explain what 4M Linux is, 4M Linux is an independent distro designed to be lightweight and good at fulfilling the 4 M’s which the lead developer feels are necessary in any distro:
• Maintenance (system rescue Live CD)
• Multimedia (full support for a huge number of image, audio and video formats)
• Miniserver (DNS, FTP, HTTP, MySQL, NFS, Proxy, SMTP, SSH, and Telnet)
• Mystery (meaning a collection of classic Linux games)
This version has some new bells & whistles versus the older versions. Key internal differences include the latest LTS kernel and the Mesa 22.2.3 graphics stack to handle the multimedia end of things.
As for the bells & whistles:
• A raster graphics editor and Hex-a-Hop video game as downloadable extensions,
• AlsaPlayer,
• Baka MPlayer,
• GNOME MPlayer,
• GNOME MPV
• mp3blaster
• XMMS as a default media player
Now about updated apps:
• LibreOffice 7.5.2 office suite
• Mozilla Firefox 111
• Chromium 106.0.5249.91
• Mozilla Thunderbird 102.8.0
• GIMP 2.10.34
• VLC 3.0.18
• SMPlayer 22.2.0 video player
• Audacious 4.3 audio player
• AbiWord 3.0.5 word processor
• Gnumeric 1.12.55 spreadsheet editor
One thing that makes this lightweight distro stand out, though, is that it also has a server flavor called 4MServer, which includes the standard LAMP stack tools and has been updated alongside the main distro, with the latest stable versions of Apache server, MariaDB, and PHP.
https://9to5linux.com/independent-distro-4mlinux-42-released-with-linux-kernel-6-1-lts
#distromonday #Linux #4MLinux #4MServer #lightweight #fast #oldhardware #newhardware #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Wonder Wednesday 2 – How Do I _____ In Linux?

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.

WW 2.1 – What’s Lama Cleaner?

Lama Cleaner is a and open source, self-hosted AI image manipulation program which can do anything from remove the background of an image to removing an unwanted person or thing from a shot, very cleanly. I know, I typically am very negative about AI on the channel, but this tool is open source and completely installable in anaconda (which is a version of the python programming language) on your system. It won’t phone home about the images you are tweaking. That makes it safe, and potentially a more convenient and private way to make memes or something like that. That aspect of it intrigues me, as I make several per week. Let’s see how to get that done, shall we?

Open the Terminal and enter the following commands
• Install pip
◦ wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
◦ sudo python get-pip.py –prefix=/usr/local/
• Install Lama Cleaner
◦ pip install lama-cleaner
▪ This will install several things, and may take quite a while, depending on your internet connection, as it it will download over 2 GB of packages, once this finishes, I suggest that you install a few plugins
• Install a few plugins
◦ pip install rembg
◦ pip install realesrgan
◦ pip install gfpgan
• Run Lama Cleaner for the first time
◦ lama-cleaner –model=lama –device=cpu –port=8080
• Point your browser here to see the interface
◦ http://127.0.0.1:8080

Lama Cleaner’s models are plentiful and powerful. They can do any number of things, and each one does a certain thing better than the others can. In order to start Lama Cleaner, you may need to tweak your $PATH variable, or else it will not be found. There may be other issues as well, so I’m not sure that I can suggest you try this yourself unless you are more of a nerd than I am.


https://www.linuxlinks.com/machine-learning-linux-lama-cleaner-self-hostable-inpainting-tool/
#AI #lamacleaner #self-hostable #FOSS #cool #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
WW 2.2 – Linux System Administration Commands
systemctl
In this command, you can enable or disable system services at boot time.
journalctl
Using this command, you are able to view and manage system logs, including logs generated by kernel, system services, and user applications.
dmesg
This command displays a system message buffer, including kernel messages related to hardware and system events.
df
This command displays information about the file system disk usage and available space.
du
This command is used to display the disk usage of files and directories.
mount
This command is used to mount file systems, such as removable media or network shares, to a specified mount point in the file system.
umount
This command is used to unmount file systems that are no longer in use.
fdisk
This command is used to create, edit, and delete disk partitions.
mkfs
This command is used to create file systems on partitions or devices.
chown
This command is used to change the owner of files and directories.
chmod
This command is used to change the permissions of files and directories.
useradd
This command is used to create new user accounts on the system.
userdel
This command is used to delete user accounts from the system.
groupadd
This command is used to create new user groups on the system.
groupdel
This command is used to delete user groups from the system.
passwd
This command is used to change the password of a user account.
hostnamectl
This command is used to view or modify the hostname of the system.
timedatectl
This command is used to view or modify the system time and date.
ifconfig
This command is used to configure network interfaces on the system.
ip
This command is used to configure and manage network interfaces, routing, and tunnels.
route
This command is used to view and manage the routing table.
ping
This command is used to test network connectivity by sending ICMP packets to a specified host.
traceroute
This command is used to trace the path of network packets from the source to the destination.
netstat
This command is used to display network connections, routing tables, and interface statistics.
iptables
This command is used to manage firewall rules for packet filtering, NAT, and port forwarding.
ssh
This command is used to securely connect to remote systems over a network.
scp
This command is used to securely copy files between systems over a network.
rsync
This command is used to synchronize files and directories between systems over a network.
crontab
This command is used to create, view, and manage scheduled tasks that run automatically at specified times.
at
This command is used to schedule a one-time task to run at a specified time.
systemctl suspend
This command is used to put the system into suspend mode, allowing it to be resumed later.
systemctl hibernate
This command is used to put the system into hibernation mode, allowing it to be restored to its previous state upon resume.
shutdown
This command is used to shut down or reboot the system.
poweroff
This command is used to power off the system.
reboot
This command is used to reboot the system.

Some of these I use on a regular basis, others I’ve probably never touched, but it is valuable to have these at your fingertips, nonetheless. My most commonly used commands from this table above are systemctl, mount, umount, and reboot. Never used crontab or userdel. Sometimes when I am doing updates in the terminal and find that a reboot is necessary, I will simply sudo reboot now rather than using the mouse to do the same task. It is simpler that way.
https://www.linuxteck.com/linux-system-administration-command-cheat-sheet/

#cheatsheet #Linuxsysadmin #terminal #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
Want to learn more about how to degoogle your phone and why?

Degoogled

#TechFreedom #degoogled #degoogleyourlife #defintionsday #Truth

WW 2.3 – A New ePub Reader from the KDE Team
Arianna is here! The KDE team have put together a new ePub reader and management app based on Kirigami and Qt. It is purty and has direct integrations with Baloo to make the management side of the app more of a joy. You can search for words in individual books, keep track of progress, and navigate using the keyboard. Why do we need another reader app when we have Calibre or Thorium already? Well, neither of them are so wholly integrated with any desktop environment, so there are clunky bits for each of these other options.
You can try it easily via a flatpak:

flatpak install flathub org.kde.arianna

KDE Team Developing a New e-Book Management App: Arianna

#arianna #epub #FOSS #readerapp #Linux #sysadmin #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

FOSS Fun Friday 2 – Games Galore

FFF 2.1 – Proton 8 Fresh off the Presses
What’s new with this version? Lots new playable games:
• Forspoken
• Samurai Maiden
• Dead Space (2023)
• Creativerse
• Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition
• One Piece: Pirate Warriors 4
• Atelier Meruru
• Atelier Lydie & Suelle ~The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings~
• Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book DX
• Blue Reflection
• Atelier Rorona ~The Alchemist of Arland~ DX
• Disney Dreamlight Valley
• ROMANCE OF THE THREE KINGDOMS XIV
• ToGather:Island
• WARRIORS OROCHI 3 Ultimate Definitive Edition
• Exceed – Gun Bullet Children
• Gungrave G.O.R.E.
• Chex Quest HD
And of course, a bevy of bug fixes
• Fixed 2K launcher failure caused by launcher update.
• Fixed Arabic fonts in FIFA 21 and 22.
• Improved CJK font support in many games including NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit, Stardom 3 and Sword and Fairy 3.
• Improved sleep/resume functionality on Steam Deck for Tiny Tina’s Wonderland.
• Improved multi-touch support.
• Fixed native scrollbar being always visible in Final Fantasy XIV Online launcher.
• Fixed A Plague Tale: Innocence and A Plague Tale: Requiem showing on-screen keyboard when starting the game on the Steam Deck.
• Fixed rendering issues during cutscenes in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.
• Fixed Japanese keyboard input in Final Fantasy XIV Online.
• Fixed Football manager 2023 crashing when trying to return from a player profile.
• Fixed experimental regression: Fall in Labyrinth started crashing on some setups.
• Improved CJK characters rendering in many games including NOBUNAGA’S AMBITION: Souzou with Power Up Kit.
• Fixed Life is Strange Remastered crashing at the end of chapter 2.
• Fixed Alt+Tab not working on Gnome 43.
• Improved force feedback compatibility for BeamNG and Forza Horizon 5.
• Fixed regression with Mortal Kombat X performance.
• Fixed OpenGL launch option for Youropa.
• Fixed raytracing in Crysis Remastered.
• Improved multiplayer support in Company of Heroes III.
• Improved fullscreen support for The Last Blade 2.
• Fixed regression: Minecraft Dungeons was hanging when disconnecting from multiplayer game.
• Fixed Immortals Fenyx Rising missing/out-of-order audio lines in cutscenes.
• Fixed The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt launcher flickering on Wayland.
• Fixed Story Mode not working in Dead or Alive 6.
• Enabled nvapi for many games.
• Updated wine to 8.0.
• Updated dxvk to v2.1-4-gcaf31033.
• Updated vkd3d-proton to v2.8-84-g08909d98.
• Updated dxvk-nvapi to v0.6.2.
• Updated wine-mono to 7.4.1.
Only works with Vulkan 1.3 compatible cards
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/valve-rolls-out-proton-80-to-further-improve-steam-deck-and-linux-gaming/
#FFF #steam #proton #steamdeck #Linuxgaming #FOSSNews #TechFreedom


FFF 2.2 – New Release for MangoHud Statistics Overlay
What’s MangoHud? MangoHud is a system statistics overlay app which you can use while you play most games, if you just have to know your FPS, temperatures, frequencies, and various usages in realtime. It’s what you see in many review videos on YouTube, or in your game streamers on twitch and the like. So what’s new for this handy tool?
• Fixed issue that applied picmip without option being set.
• Reverted x11 poller that was causing segfaults 06edee4.
• Fixed issues with horizontal and legacy_layout.
• Fixed amdgpu APU power and temperature reading.
• Fixed certain hud elements displaying incorrectly in horizontal.
• Fixed an issue causing segfault when using MANGOHUD_CONFIG.
Sounds like it used to float around in the wrong spots on the steamdeck and in Linux, that issue has been fixed (see point 5 above).
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/mangohud-performance-overlay-gets-a-few-needed-fixes-in-v069-1/
#FFF #mangohud #Linux #Linuxgaming #steamdeck #performance #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Freed Computer

Freed Computer

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FFF 2.3 – Mineclone2 has a New Version Out

Last week I talked about the FOSS core for this implementation of early minecraft code, and you need that in order to play this, as it is more or less a DLC content pack made for minetest. Here’s a sampling of what’s new, here, boys & girls.
• new and updated music
• new sound effects
• biome coloured foliage and water
• mobs can ride minecarts
• hoppers can put items in minecarts
• new and improved /clearmobs commands
• Iron Golems now protect themselves and villagers
• various performance improvements
• improved translations
• lots of bug fixes and more..
If I had time to throw at it, and cared at all on any kind of personal level about MineCraft or its spinoffs/knockoffs I would probably test it out. However, neither of those things is true of me, so I won’t.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/mineclone2-v083-out-now-the-sandbox-game-for-minetest-inspired-by-minecraft/
#FFF #Linux #FOSSgames #Linuxgaming #mineclone2 #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Weekend Edition 33: Elon, AI, Digital Hygiene Tips, and More

News From Elon Land
AI News
Tech tips from the FBI (LOL)
Dominion/Fox/Smartmatic BS
 
#elon #AI #FBI #techtips #electionstuff Elonmusk #Twitter #FOSSNews #TechFreedom  #weekendedition #currentevents #technews 
 
 
WE 33.1 – Elon World
He claims to be lining up a lawsuit against Microsoft for illegally using Twitter data to train the Bing AI, based on reporting from a few outlets on the matter. Elon tweeted out a threat on Wednesday, but as of writing, there have been no teeth behind the barked threat. This opens up the topic of data ownership, which is one of the cornerstones of both Tech Freedom and another related company which I’ve been creating content for, called Altha Tech. The prime difference between us is that Altha Tech can actually help you to host your data safely away from Big Tech, on their own infrastructure. I do not have that capability. They can help you get set up with a custom WordPress site, host your own Nextcloud instance, or any other number of self-hosted tools or platforms, to keep your data safe, and your website up and running no matter what you post there. Tech Freedom is about showing you the need for and introducing you to alternatives to Big Tech. I can help you set your computer and mobile life free, but the best option, unless you have the hardware and know-how to self host the rest of whatever can be in your digital life, is to go with a hosting provider who has their own infrastructure and prizes privacy. Altha Tech fits that bill.  Back to the main gist of the article though, Elon is acting big mad about Twitter’s data being scraped to train Microsoft’s AI. Data ownership and privacy need to be foremost in our minds, as these factors make a huge difference in every day life, believe it or not. Whether you feel you have anything to hide or not, this should matter to you because whenever you use an electronic device, it records data about he interaction, whether your phone, computer, or some online account. The profiles built about us by big tech (and the surveillance state) are incredibly powerful and can sometimes reveal more about ourselves than we know about ourselves. This can lead to very dark places if that data winds up in the wrong hands. That is why I just plugged Altha Tech, as well as Tech Freedom. 
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/19/musk-threatens-to-sue-microsoft-over-twitter-data-being-used-in-ai.html 
https://althatech.com
https://techfreedom.pro
#elonmusk #suingmicrosoft #personaldata #dataownership #dataprivacy #althatech #techfreedom #weekendedition #TechFreedom 
 
 
WE 33.2 – AI News
33.2a) TruthGPT?
In Elon’s interview with Tucker, he claimed that he was going to start a new AI initiative called TruthGPT to be a counterbalance to the wokism and political correctness of other AI tools that are currently in vogue. The reality is that there are ways to make ChatGPT less woke, and I have talked about them in the past, then there is Gab AI (currently just art and short video clips), but working on a text chat bot that will produce far more based (less biased) things. Elon used to be on the board at OpenAI, but left after a failed takeover attempt in 2018, and has been decrying the for-profit model that they have been pursuing since then. In this interview, he also calls for some sort of government regulatory agency  to be put in place around AI. Uhhh, no. Let’s not create more government agencies, Mr. Musk. Weren’t you paying attention when Regan quipped that the scariest words in the English language are “Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help”? We need less government and better moral and ethical norms in our society again. We need to eliminate the corruption that seems to be at the core of our government and society, then restore life to a purer state. To me, this requires a full shut down and cleanse of the system, then rebuild from the ground up, with a core of Truth rather than corruption. A keystone to this project is submission to the God of the Bible, learning to trust the Holy Spirit to guide us, the Father to protect and provide for us, and Jesus to walk with us. But I digress. AI may or may not be the issue, here. The organizations creating and training the AIs are. I don’t trust Elon to head this up, either. He is too inconsistent, and besides, he voted for pResident Depends in 2020. That is an epic case of bad judgment. Not sure I trust Torba and the team at Gab, either, to be honest. I think I trust them more, but that isn’t saying much. As always, I think that open sourced efforts are the way to move forward. That way we can see the data used, the algorithms and whatnot used to make the educated guesses at what its answers should be and whatnot. Generally, FOSS also = self-hostable, which adds an extra layer of privacy and control to the whole picture. Either way, remember that these things are TOOLS, not something you should live your life according to.
#AI #elonmusk #truthgpt #idonttrusthim #TechFreedom #weekendedition
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/18/musk-calls-plans-truthgpt-ai-to-rival-openai-deepmind.html  
 
33.2b) Google Creating MAGI, a new AI Search Engine
What is MAGI? It’s a response/reaction to the report that Samsung may be considering moving away from Google Search as its default for its devices, and over to Bing, due to the AI integration with it. Its aim is to be as conversational as ChatGPT, which BARD is not, currently. Bard kind of sucks. It sounds like the search giant is reeling a bit, as shares went down 4% when the news about Samsung’s apparent decision broke. Why do they still hold a 97% market share for search? I’ve been harping on ditching them for the whole time I’ve been doing Tech Freedom. That is the simplest step you can take to reduce your big tech footprint, as well as gaining access to more balanced news and other information as well. Quit volunteering your data to Google and Microsoft, y’all. Just stop it. Use Brave search, Presearch, or something else that doesn’t send your search data to them without some anonymization at least. Word on the street is that Google will start to release MAGI in a month or so. Oh boy. #smh
#google #AI #MAGI #yikes #nothanks #weekendedition #TechFreedom #FOSSNews
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/google-reportedly-working-on-ai-powered-search-engine/ 
 
33.2c) Snapchat to Roll Out My AI to All Accounts Soon
Uhhh, thanks for reminding me why I don’t use Snapchat again, Snap. My AI is a ChatGPT based tool which can talk to you on the platform, even eventually including pictures, but just the same way as another user might. It’s designed to suggest different AR lenses to filter your content through, it even has its own bitmoji persona, and you can set up group chats with the same bot. Right now, it will only respond with text, but soon, they will update it so that it can generate images. Ok… *side eye* I used to think that snapchat was kind of cool, but then I started caring more about privacy, and lost interest, that and if you haven’t noticed, brevity in my content is not my specialty, lol. 
#snapchat #AI #ohbrother #myai #weekendedition #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/snaps-ai-bot-is-rolling-out-to-everyone-heres-how-it-works/ 
 
WE 33.3 – Security Tips 
    A) Phishing 101
        a. What is phishing?
            i. A type of scam which uses bits of scraped personal data, which can happen via email, social media, or even text messaging. 
                1. They will message you, one way or the other, sometimes offering money if you’ll help them with something, and sometimes soliciting donations for some worthy cause. They ultimately want to squeeze money from you, or some other valuable piece of personal information. 
        b. How can you protect yourself from a phishing scam?
            i. Practice good digital hygiene
                1. Don’t open emails or other messages from addresses/senders that you don’t recognize. 
                    a. Verify with individual senders that you do know before you open messages from them
                2. Make sure that the spellings for addresses actually match the senders and domains you are familiar with. 
                3. If a message requests donations in crypto or gift cards, it is a scammer
                4. Romance scams are a doozy. If I weren’t happily married, it would have been far harder to dodge those bullets, but if someone is messaging you that you don’t know in person, claiming that they love you, block them and flag that sender as a spam account. 
                5. Be wary about charities anyway. Even established charities can also be little more than money laundering operations. It is better to find a way to give directly to someone who is hurting, but beware of that as well. 
        c. Mitigating Damage
            i. Use a good anti-virus suite and keep it up to date
                1. Or use Linux, it is not as likely to have a place for malware to latch onto.
            ii. Make sure that your password is strong, and that you do not reuse passwords for anything. If needed, use a good password manager like Bitwarden.
            iii. Use 2FA
                1. I would be careful with 2FA, as not all 2FA is created equal. If you must use it, use an app like Aegis which is FOSS and never use SMS 2FA if you can help it. 
            iv. Consider a Credit Freeze
                1. If you fear that bad actors have breached your social security number or credit card numbers, there are steps you can take to make sure that they can’t do much with that information. Phone your credit card company or bank and have them freeze your account until you are able to piece it back together. 
https://www.cnet.com/news/privacy/avoid-concert-and-sports-ticket-scams-with-these-expert-approved-tips/ 
#phishing #security #tips #weekendedition #FOSSNews #TechFreedom 
 
B) Beware Public Device Chargers
Simple PSA here, don’t use free, public anything these days. Some bad actor has probably been there, hacked that in some way, and these public charging stations can take advantage of the fact that most charging ports on phones and tablets can also transfer data, and juice jack devices through embedding compromised data chips with malware payloads embedded in them to hit your phone as soon as you plug it in. Just use your own, with a power outlet. It is that simple. Sometimes it is hard, but if you value privacy, this is how it must be. 
 
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/tech/fbi-public-charging-port-warning/index.html 
#PSA #juicejacking #becareful #useyourowncharger #weekendedition #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
 
 
 
 
WE 33.4 – Fox & 2020 Election Stuff
    A) Fox & Dominion Settle for just shy of $800 Million
I don’t know how I feel about this, except that I recall that the owner of Faux News is in the rarefied air of the “chosen people”. They tend to live by their own unique set of rules, and that makes Faux News and all of its talent sketchy, IMO. Faux has been controlled opposition the whole time, never really on the side of we the people. They are Lamestream Media, after all. Dominion sued for about double that based on claims of defamation that Faux’s anchors and personalities made in relation to the company’s voting tabulation machines in the aftermath of that fraudulent election. Whether or not the machines were knowingly tampered with to invalidate the will of We the People or not, the will of We the People was negated in many ways in November of 2020. I could go off on this, but I have not really researched it, and there is much noise and mis/disinformation on both sides of the issue so it is hard to see the truth at this point. 
Either way, Faux News chose to more or less admit to wrongdoing to avoid more scandal in the midst of public discovery for the trial, and now Dominion gets a fat payday.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/19/business/nightcap-fox-dominion-winners-losers/index.html 
#elections #fauxnews #msm #2020 #dominion #weekendedition
 
B) Smartmatic vs Faux News
In a very related case, Smartmatic is pressing forward with its $2.7 Billion claim against Faux News and News Corp. They have compelled Faux to produce the same materials for discovery as they needed to for the Dominion case. Both firms accuse the media giant of not merely reporting on the statements of Trump and his surrogates and lawyers, but engaging in statements which damaged the company’s prospects due to being implicated in the court of public opinion with fraud. It looks like Faux will actually take this one to trial, and perhaps that was the idea all along, since these cases are so similar. 
#weekendedition #2020 #smartmatic #voting #FOSSNews #TechFreedom 
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/19/fox-smartmatic-defamation-case-dominion.html

FOSS News April 10-14, 2023

by admin Distro News, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Foss News, Weekend Edition

FOSS News April 10-14, 2023

Distro Monday 53: Fast Distros with a Hacking Interlude

DM 53.1 – What’s CachyOS?
Well, it’s kinda like it says. This new distro is meant to be fast, and secure. I need something that isn’t gonna get in my way, so maybe I’ll give this a try on my Surface, then after that I’ll give you my opinion. I’m currently running EndeavourOS, which I talk about every time they release a new ISO, but even it has some problems on this goofy machine. I just want to find something that will do what I need it to without getting in my way via glitches which result in weird performance issues. I digress, though. Back to Cachy, so what is so special about this Arch distro? For one, it is designed for ease of use, so it is more like a Manjaro or Garuda than Vanilla Arch. Secondly, it is, as I said before, built for speed and increased security. This sounds like an excellent thing to me. What makes it unique, though?
· Desktop packages compiled with LTO and x86-64-v3 optimization.
o LTO grants the compiler the opportunity to see more than a single .o file at a time. This grants extra freedom for the optimisation that yields:
§ reduced code size (seen binaries down to 40%, but expect some 5-20% reduction)
§ increased execution speed (hey, there is less code for the same thing, how much faster depends on how the application, obviously)
· Choice of desktop environments with online installation process (including i3, bspwm, and Openbox, and Wayfire window managers)
o The standard desktop options apply: GNOME, KDE, LxQt, Xfce, and Cutefish
· Offline and Online installation options
· GUI and CLI-based installation options
· Optimized Linux Kernel with advanced BORE Scheduler for enhanced performance and reliability
o There are a handful of other options as well, for the more advanced users.
o I’m going to try to ask some questions in their forum before I dive in, as I do need a particular kernel in order for things to work right on this machine, as far as I know.
There have been reports of a 10-20% performance uplift for users vs other distros, due to their tweaks, and that sounds very interesting to me. I’m also liking the added security claims. We shall see if it is worth trying on this machine or not. Maybe I should try it on my boys’ old machine, see if it feels more responsive than Manjaro there. That would almost make more sense to do right now. Again, though, not sure when I might get to that.
https://news.itsfoss.com/cachyos/
https://cachyos.org/
#distromonday #cachyOS #Linuxnews #FOSSNews #newdistro #TechFreedom

DM 53.2 – Dangerous Tools: Black Arch Linux
This, like Kali Linux, is termed as an “ethical hacking” distro. What does that mean? It is Arch + over 2,800 tools to help you do penetration testing, security research, and the like. Yes, it is built by “hackers, for hackers”. Being based on Arch, it will naturally be more finicky than Kali, but also far more robust and bleeding edge in terms of packages not directly related to the ethical hacking tools they create and bundle with it. I’m not gonna list all the tools, because we’d be here all day reading it off, but I will encourage you to take a look at the exhaustive list they have (https://blackarch.org/tools.html). The team had been quiet for the last year, which is part of why I haven’t covered it until now. The other part is that my business and channel are oriented toward attracting new users to the space, not circle-jerking with others who know the OS better than I do. This is a niche within a niche, and not even super well-known in the Linux space, as Kali is by nature more stable and accessible. However, I still wanted to say something about this distro, as variety is the spice of life.
https://9to5linux.com/ethical-hacking-distro-blackarch-linux-gets-new-iso-release-with-over-2800-tools
#distromonday #blackarch #FOSSNews #Linuxnews #Linux #hackers #whitehats #TechFreedom


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

 


DM 53.3 – News from Linux Lite
Linux Lite is a *buntu-based distro with an eye toward being lightweight and fast, perfect for users with older, or less powerful machines, particuarly those who really want to breathe new life into old hardware. It uses Xfce as the desktop, and stays very stable, rather than always updating those packages as soon as they come available (it is still using 4.16 rather than the new 4.18). Why else should you be interested though? It is stable and fast. What’s new?
· Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with the 5.15 LTS kernel
· Zstd compression
o Makes installs faster
· Systemd Reporting through the Lite System Report App
· Updated Thunar File Manager
o Thumbnail support for WebP images
· Latest and greatest Papirus icons
· Pre-installed Apps all updated
o Thunderbird
o WokeFox (sorry, Mozilla is super woke, guys)
o Etc…
All in all a solid update, btw, you can install pretty much any Linux kernel you want, from 3.13 all the way up to 6.2, from their repos. Pretty cool.
https://9to5linux.com/linux-lite-6-4-officially-released-based-on-ubuntu-22-04-2-lts
#distromonday #Linux #LinuxLite #lightweight #fast #oldhardware #newhardware #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

 


Tech Freedom Intro: What to expect from my channels and website.

#intro #TechFreedom #telegram #truthsocial #publicsq #gab #Truth

Wonder Wednesday 1 - KDE Updates and A Docker How-To

Wonder Wednesday 1 – KDE Updates and A Docker How-To
Ever Wonder What’s Next for KDE?
Degoogle Your Mobile Life
Ever Wonder What Docker Is or If It Might Help You?

#wonderwednesday #newthing #Linux #FOSSNews #KDE #Docker #TechFreedom
Wonder Wednesday, New Thing, Linux news, FOSS News, KDE updates, Docker Intro, Tech Freedom

WW 1.1 – KDE Plasma 5.27.4
We have another maintenance update for the latest LTS version of KDE. Let’s see what’s new, shall we?
· Fixed a KWin crash in dual monitor setups where after disabling and renabling the secondary monitor
· Scroll speed setting fixed
· Better GTK app handling
o Multi-monitor
o Switching global themes
· Plasma Wayland Session
o No more quit with too-long window names
o Improvements for NVidia Users
§ Screen recording and task manager thumbnails now better
· Quality of Life Improvements
o energy usage graphs in the Info Center app more reliable when using dark themes
o multi-monitor support to visually distinguish monitors with the same name and serial number by showing their connector names
o Better support for Flatpak apps in the Plasma Discover package manager
· Plasma Discover
o Faster when there are a ton of updates
o No more prompts to update when Discover window is open
o Emoji picker app can now be opened with dedicated emoji key on keyboard (what are we coming to, y’all?)
o Kicker launcher’s “Sort applications alphabetically” setting now removes manually-placed separator lines between apps.
· Many bugs fixed
o Certain crashes
o Visually corrupted decorations
o Better support for GTK headerbar apps when running Breeze GTK theme
o No more red/blue cursor color swap in screen casting
· And more…
https://9to5linux.com/kde-plasma-5-27-4-improves-plasma-wayland-on-nvidia-gpus-fixes-many-bugs
#KDE #updates #alwaysgettingbetter #stillamess #stillmyfavorite #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

WW 1.2 – KDE Frameworks 5.105
Small update with only 55 changes made, which makes allot of sense since most of their development energy is focused on Plasma 6, which is coming soon as well. The main headline is better support for the Breeze icon theme in Flatpak apps downloaded via flathub. Other than that, it’s just a handful of tweaks to Kirigami apps, New icons for Redshift, and fixed a bug which led to the Filelight icon being shown for GParted and KwikDisk, new icons for showing and hiding the virtual keyboard. We should also see fewer Baloo file indexing service crashes, which is always a good thing.
Not much else to say here, they release one of these per month, at least until Plasma 6 is released.

As an aside: I used to be a 100% KDE fanboy, used to hate GNOME with a passion because of the stunts that the dev team over at Red Hat pulled every time there was an update (thereby breaking most extensions), but now I’ve been using GNOME 44 on my Surface since it was released, and while this sad little machine still has its issues, GNOME seems better suited for this purpose than KDE ever has been. I eat crow when I need to, and this is one of those situations. That is all.
https://9to5linux.com/kde-frameworks-5-105-improves-support-for-flatpak-apps-updates-breeze-icon-theme
#KDE #updates #flatpaksupport #icons #fewercrashes #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Want to learn more about how to degoogle your phone and why?

Degoogled

#TechFreedom #degoogled #degoogleyourlife #defintionsday #Truth

WW 1.3 – What is Docker Anyway?
Docker is a containerization solution for app development and deployment. Think of it as a Firejailed Flatpak on steroids. With a Docker implementation, any app should run the same on pretty much any system, because all of its core dependencies are included in the container, so it does not need to rely on the underlying system for much at all, other than processing power, storage, and RAM. Containerization also nets the benefits of virtualization without the overhead of running a full guest OS. Will it work for every scenario, not necessarily. On the other hand, if you need more security, a virtual machine will be a better bet, even with the overhead, as those are that much more segmented from the rest of the system in terms of resources. I’m not going to read through the how-to install it, if you want to know, simply read the article, linked below.
What are the main pieces of Docker? The Docker Engine, which allows you to run docker containers on your system via a background daemon process. Then there is the Docker Image, multiple of which can be stacked to create your ideal container for your purposes, this is a file which serves as a template to create dockerfiles which are the containers for your apps. Finally, we have the Docker Container itself: this is a Linux instance with all of the dependencies for your app built in, and not much else; it will stay in memory until you delete the dockerfile you created for it; you turn images into containers by adding read/write permissions to the image.
How do I use it, though? Here are a few basic commands:
· To run a Docker container – docker container run [options] [container name]
o Here are some run options:
§ -i or –interactive – Interact with containers (connect to the container’s standard input).
§ -t or –tty – Assign a pseudo-terminal.
§ -d or –detach – Avoid terminal lockup (run in the background).
§ –rm – Automatically remove stopped containers.
§ –name Name the container (make it easier to specify containers).
§ –platform – Explicit image architecture.
· To list all Docker containers on your system
o docker container ls
· To stop a particular container from running – (two step situation):
o docker container ls -a (the –a will list every container)
§ then
o docker container stop [docker id] (you don’t need to type in all of the id string just the first few characters, as each container’s opening string for their ID is unique)
· To download new Images from Docker Hub
o docker pull [image name]
· To delete Images –
o docker rmi [image name]
o docker rmi –f [image]
§ The –f flag will force the issue, so even if it is being used in a container, it will still get the ax.
About Dockerfiles though, there are many possible directives, but here are a few key ones:
· FROM – Specify base image
· RUN – execute arbitrary command
· COPY – Add files from the host machine to the image
· CMD – specify a default instruction
To show you what we are talking about, say we want to use an Ubuntu 20.04 image for something, first, you pull the image file, then you create a file called Dockerfile, then edit it and add the following lines:
FROM ubuntu:20.04
RUN apt-get update
RUN apt-get install -y curl
Save the file, then run this command:
docker image build –tag my-ubuntu:20.04
If we don’t use the –tag flag, we will get a random string of characters as the ID for the container.
After that, run this to make sure that the container was successfully created, by running
docker images to see the list of images on your system.

Now you have some idea what Docker is, what containers are, and how to use and create Docker containers for yourself.

https://www.geeksveda.com/docker-tutorial/

#docker #containerization #portable #virtualization #Linux #sysadmin #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Bits & Bobs: How to Degoogle Your OnePlus Devices

#tutorial #degoogle #oneplus #TechFreedom #privacy #degoogleyourlife #FOSSNews #Truth

If CLI is a Bit Too Much for You, Here’s How the GrapheneOS Web-Installer Works for Pixels

https://rumble.com/v178p5r-grapheneos-webinstaller-demo-pixel-3-xl.html?mref=2jfr3&mc=anr3y

#tutorial #example #definitionsday #pixel3xl #grapheneOS #degoogle #privacy #security

How to install GrapheneOS on a Pixel phone:

https://tv.gab.com/channel/tech_freedom/view/how-to-degoogle-your-pixel-3xl-629bcda174999572f23b5032

#definitionsday #TechFreedom #techtips #howto #tutorial

FOSS Fun Friday 1 – An Eclectic Batch of News

FFF 1.1 – Steam Deck News
A) Steam Deck to Cross 3 Million Units Sold This Year
This should not come as a terrible surprise, as the FOSS community has really banded around the ‘Deck. It is a niche product which has great potential, but most normie-con gamers are still quite happy with their Windows PCs, XBoxes and PlayStations, thank you very much. Still, that looks like quite the coup for Steam and Valve as a whole. Sure, that doesn’t make the eye-popping numbers from the big boys, where they sell that many in a bad month, but everything in context, this is cool.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/report-steam-deck-to-pass-3-million-sales-during-2023/
#steam #valve #steamdeck #FOSSNews #Linuxgaming #TechFreedom #FFF
B) GE-Proton 7-55 Released
Quick note, this is not a huge update, but it makes it easier to work around and with Easy Anti-Cheat titles. so here’s what’s new in this hotfix update:
· This is a hotfix for EAC. In 7-53 the star citizen hotfix broke EAC compatibility for other games, this has been fixed now.
o wine updated to latest bleeding edge.
o dxvk updated to git.
o vkd3d-proton updated to git.
o nvapi enabled for final fantasy stranger of paradise.
o legacy xactengine winetricks protonfix removed as it’s finally no longer needed.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/ge-proton-7-55-released-essential-fix-for-easy-anti-cheat-steam-deck/
#FFF #Steam #Linuxgaming #geproton #hotfix #easyanticheat #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
C) Halo MasterChief Collection Now On Steamdeck
Cool tidbit, here, boys and girls. That’s right, Microsoft’s juggernaut of a series now works better on the ‘deck. However, there are still growing pains. So, what’s new here?
· When launching Halo: The Master Chief Collection on Steam Deck, selecting one of the available Anti-Cheat launch options will result in the game launching with the opposite launch option. For example, selecting “Anti-Cheat Disabled” will result in MCC launching with Anti-Cheat enabled.
o Until this issue is resolved in a future update, players on Steam Deck must select the “Anti-Cheat Disabled” launch option to access multiplayer matchmaking and the Custom Game Browser.
· Shortly after being removed from or leaving a party with other players via the Roster menu, players on Steam Deck may experience Halo: The Master Chief Collection freezing or crashing.
o Players on Steam Deck are unable to play Campaign Co-op or Spartan Ops with players on PC or Xbox consoles. Attempting to do so may result in players accessing gameplay, however, all sessions will eventually experience a “Connection Interrupted” error or a similar disconnection.
· Campaign Co-op and Spartan Ops will function as expected if all players in the group are playing on Steam Deck.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/halo-the-master-chief-collection-gets-steam-deck-support/
#FFF #halo #steamdeck #easyanticheat #Linuxgaming #FOSSNews #TechFreedom


FFF 1.2 – AMD Drivers Out Now… Good Stuff
So lots of changes to boost performance in AMD GFX for Linux. I alluded to some of these features a couple of weeks ago when I covered the new update for DOTA 2. This one should make some significant changes for anyone who doesn’t like Team Green with their pedo-inspired logo… But I digress. What’s new here? Well, GPL will be enabled by default, which should remove jitters from titles which do not have shader caches. Also due to a re-implementation of that shader cache structure, those cache files should be FAR smaller, which means that your hardware won’t have to work as hard and you get smoother performance. This is excellent. The changes in cache file size have been on the order of a 60% reduction in size for single-file situations, however, in multi-file situations, it has been observed to increase the overall cache size by 2%, due to overhead changes. Sounds like good stuff, even if we won’t necessarily get to see these benefits realized until potentially the next major update for Linux.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/driver-updates-for-amd-radv-to-give-nice-boost-for-linux-and-steam-deck/
#FFF #AMD #RADV #Linux #drivers #MESA #performance #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
Freed Computer

Freed Computer

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

FFF 1.3 – Not Strictly Gaming, But KDE Connect Got Some Big Love

The KDE Connect team got a big grant which will allow the development team to focus on it full time. This means that this handy piece of software will get new features and updates that much more frequently. What are they working on next?
· adding in a mDNS backend to improve device discovery and connections
o This is a big deal because it can be a bit finicky at times, so this getting improved makes me very happy
· Rolling out improvements and updates to encryption by dropping the older protocols for old Android
· Security patches and updates
· They’re also looking to improve the UI in terms of accessibility
All good, here. Hopefully that mDNS shift will make those connection issues that I have had go away.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/kde-connect-is-getting-some-upgrades-for-easy-file-transfers/
#FFF #Linux #KDEConnect #GSConnect #security #stability #better #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

FFF 1.4 – Minetest 5.7 Released
If you’re thinking that the name of this game sounds allot like an uber-popular title from Mojang, you’d be right. This is a FOSS game that is very similar to Minecraft. It is an open-world, pixelart, sandbox game which allows you to build just about anything. This version adds a huge performance boost: long-distance horizon drawing used to absolutely crawl, at ~10 FPS, now that same scene practically flies at 53 FPS. That is huge, as 10 FPS is not even remotely playable, where 53 FPS is almost buttery. They’ve added some effects, such as bloom and dynamic exposure, along with occlusion culling, so that it no longer renders things that are outside the frame, and they’ve added better multi-threading support, as well as some goodies for modders. I don’t play these sorts of games at this stage in my life, but I know that many do.
https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/04/minetest-570-out-now-with-graphics-improvements-performance-upgrades/
#FFF #minetest #minecraft #updates #performance #goodstuff #FOSSgames #Linuxgaming #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

Weekend Edition 32: Bob Lee, Twitter Drama & AI for the Week

WE 32.1 – Bob Lee’s Alleged Killer Collared
Justice is coming for Bob. Here’s a followup on last week’s lead story. It looks like he knew his attacker and the attack was not a robbery or just a random murder. It would appear that the two men knew each other, and had been having a very heated argument in the suspect’s car during the wee hours of the morning last Tuesday morning. It got so combative that it would appear that Mr. Lee exited the car, and the suspect followed him, then pulled a knife on him. The knife, with the suspect’s prints on it was found near the scene. Part of me is curious to know what the argument was about, and why the men took it to such great lengths. I can’t think of many things that could lead to that much of a reaction in me, with someone that I know well. Perhaps more details will come to light, who knows, right?

https://gizmodo.com/cash-app-founder-bob-lee-stabbing-nima-momeni-arrested-1850332225
#Cashapp #boblee #suspectarrested #justice #weekendedition #TechFreedom


WE 32.2 – Former Theranos CEO to Report to Prison
Elizabeth Holmes, who was a party to defrauding Big Money in the US about 5 years ago, is to report to prison as she awaits her appeal. A few months ago, I covered that she and her former partner (multiple senses to that word) had been sentenced to 11 and 13 years for their respective parts in the fraud scheme around the Theranos claims about their revolutionary blood testing technology. The courts are not allowing her to stay free pending the appeal that may take a year to be heard. This is what happens when you defraud people like Buffett and others in the Billionaire class. You get slapped to the stone age. In comparison, if your fraud does not touch the upper crust, your trial will probably drag out further, and while you will likely be banned from ever running a business where you might be able to defraud people again as well as getting fined, and/ or required to refund or return money to those whom you harmed. They are throwing the book at Theranos just like they did with Skrelli and Madoff.

#theranos #elizabethholmes #fraud #payingthepiper #TechFreedom #weekendedition
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65241105
WE 32.3 – Elon & Twitter
A) Elon’s BBC Interview
a. Denies that trolling and other “hateful” content is on the rise on Twitter since he took over. The snowflakes are melting because they don’t have full run of the place anymore. The “journalist” who interviewed him couldn’t provide a single example of how that content had trended upward in the last 6 months. Lame.
b. Somehow I am less than surprised that a big tech guy, even one as seemingly outspoken in certain conservative ways as Elon is, would vote for Depends in the last election, rather than the “Bad Orange Man”.
c. He stands by Twitter’s efforts against bots and “hateful” content, in spite of multiple studies purporting to show how Twitter is worse off since he took over.
i. Terribly shocking that he would stand by their efforts… About as shocking as these Woke-ist studies amplifying all that they claim to hate, so not really at all.
d. Doesn’t believe that TikTok should be banned, as he is “generally against bans”. He doesn’t use the platform, but is not for the ban merely because it might drive content and eyeballs back to Twitter.
e. He would not sell at this point, unless the buyer shared his commitments to free speech and the like. He believes that he can turn it around to actually be profitable, unlike as it was, and he likens the way it was to a non-profit, rather than a business.
f. Twitter will change BBC’s label on the platform to “publicly funded” rather than “government funded” even though 71% of their revenue comes in the form of UK TV license fees, aka, straight from the Crown. BBC had whined about having the same label as RT and other global State media outlets.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65251160
#elon #interview #surprise #FOSSNews #TechFreedom

B) Twitter Labels NPR & BBC as “Government Affiliated Media”
Lol. They chose to call it how it is. Both media giants balked, NPR actually committed to leaving the platform over the alleged mis-characterization, so good riddance to bad rubbish, there, right? The BBC whined, and as I just mentioned in the interview story, Twitter back down and will change the label, from “Government Affiliated” to “Publicly Funded” media, and it would appear that that will be enough to keep the British giant on the platform. NPR is all in a tizzy over it, crying that only 3% of their income is from the CPB, which runs PBS. Both organizations insist that they have editorial freedom and are not beholden to any government entity to make sure that their news stories are non-damaging to the US or the UK. I struggle with that characterization, as we know that ALL MSM, and likely some of the smaller alt-media outlets get their talking points from the Clowns in America or the MI5/6 in the UK. Show me proof that the intellignce communities do not have full control over most of these outlets, and I’ll eat some crow.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65202978
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-65226481
#Twitter #NPR #BBC


WE 32.4 – AI News For the Week
A) Big 3 Square Off (ChatGPT vs Bing vs Bard)
You’re probably wondering why I’m bothering with this article at all with the running commentary I have about these tools, but it caught my eye. I am surprised that the Bing AI, which is an implementation of GPT-4 (the tech behind chatGPT) seems to be the middle of the road choice, here, where vanilla chatGPT outshines its competitors in every test. Bard currently sucks eggs, even though it has realtime access to Google Search to craft its responses to things. However, that may change when Google transitions from the LaMDA to PaLM large language model. I think what we are seeing here is just that Bard has not had the billions of user requests that chatGPT has had since it was released for public use back in November, as it is just becoming publicly available. Bing is weird, here though, because where chatGPT shines, it is just kind of so-so. I will repeat my refrain here: I do not trust the the mega-corps that are designing these models, not to give me accurate, relatively unbiased information, and I see these tools as pleas from them for us to give them even more data about us, our interests and the info we want to know or have put together for us. As time goes on, I see these “generative ‘AI’s’” as more nefarious, but not in the same way as people like my wife do. I think that they are designed to lull us into farming out our thinking even more than mass media and the “education” system in most countries do already. Don’t let them take your mind from you through atrophy, people.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/chatgpt-vs-bing-vs-google-bard-which-ai-is-the-most-helpful/
#ughhhh #AI #showdown #weekendedition

B) AWS to Launch Generative AI Competitor
Bedrock is a foundation for other companies to build their own tools with, not a publicly available chatbot like Bard, ChatGPT or Bing. It has a bevy of models to choose from which are all at least somewhat pre-trained, but each implementation will be 100% isolated from others using the same model, so no random company will benefit from the data that another company pours into their AI implementation based on Bedrock. This sounds like a good business move, and Amazon has been training Titan, their in-house AI models, for about 20 years, based on site searches on Amazon.com. Be wise in how you use these tools. I won’t pretend that if you have decided to use them or already have started to use them that you will stop on my account, but please slow your roll on this. Do not be in such a blind rush that you cannot see the problems with these tools.
#weekendedition #AI #Amazon #AWS #Bedrock #interesting #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/13/aws-launches-bedrock-generative-ai-service-titan-llms.html

C) AI Gen Images Cause a Stir
Deepfakes had their day in the sun this week, with their faked images going viral because people are either too tired or unobservant to notice the differences between faked images and real ones. Some were innocuous enough, of course, but the fact that people couldn’t tell the difference between real and fake, and the images were caused to go viral (I do not trust virality anymore, as it is too easily pushed via algorithms) and thus made a big stir, in some cases. This article ends with a tepid call for legislation around these issues, which seems to be something of a reaction to the notion that we need to democratize AI tools so that everyone can have access to them, if desired. I echo the call to democratize things, as you can imagine, since the name of this channel is FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) News. I believe strongly that the best, and perhaps only, way forward in terms of not becoming an even more blatant corporatocracy, is to open source as many things in our lives as possible. Speaking of open sourcing things, it is time to play a FOSS game.

#weekendedition #AI #midjourney #imagegenerators #warnings #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/02/tech/ai-generated-images-social-media/index.html

FOSS News – April 2-6, 2023

by admin Distro Monday, FOSS Fun, FOSS News, Linux, Uncategorized, Weekend Edition

Distro Monday 52

DM 52.1 – Straight Ubuntu or Mint?

What’s the difference anyway? Isn’t Mint based on Ubuntu? Actually, there are quite a few noticeable differences. Yes, Mint is derived from Ubuntu, just as Ubuntu is derived from Debian. There is also a Debian edition of Mint (which, personally, I would point you to). Personal preferences aside, what are the big differences?
· Mint
o Has only 3 Desktop environments (all are GNOME forks from yesteryear)
§ Cinnamon (in-house development, flagship option)
· Easy to use, instantly familiar for windoesn’t users, fairly lightweight
§ Xfce for the very resource-conscious
· Extra lean, bare-bones, may remind you of windoesn’t 9x by default
§ Mate which is also relatively light and quick, based on an older version of GNOME than Cinnamon is
o Has Timeshift to allow you to undo dumb choices on the computer easily
o Update manager is very easy to use
o Flatpak rather than Snap support by default
o Community based
· Ubuntu
o Supported by Canonical, LTD.
o This is “Linux” to most people who are not familiar with Linux
o By default, ships a heavily tweaked version of GNOME, with modded dash-to-dock and a few other things as well
§ Also has numerous other desktops, from LxQt to Xfce, Budgie, KDE, Cinnamon, Unity, and a host of other options which are community supported rather than being official iterations from Canonical
o Snaps, because no one else wants them
o Easy to use, I suppose, but not as easy as Mint
o Vanilla Ubuntu is disorienting because of the tweaked GNOME they ship, but if you want a more windoesn’t feel, as I said earlier, they have several other possible flavors with different desktop environments available, which is far more extensive than Mint.
I do not put any stock in Ubuntu, personally because I do not appreciate the deals they’ve made with the Devil in order to build their business to where it is today. On one hand, I suppose it has helped to raise the profile of Linux, and Ubuntu has become a more commonly used platform for servers and other enterprise-level applications. However, they compromised deeply and are almost treating their branch of the Linux family tree like a proprietary OS. I respect the Mint team for stripping out much of that garbage, and having the foresight to start a Debian edition of Mint. Is Mint perfect? No. Due to the bases on which they build, they are slow on the uptake for updates and upgrades, but that makes them more stable and less prone to break than my personal preferences, currently.

https://linuxiac.com/linux-mint-vs-ubuntu/#main

#distromonday #Linux #LinuxMint #ubnuntu #better #newbies #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

 


DM 52.2 – New ISO for OpenMandriva rolling edition out now

I talked about OpenMandriva a couple of months ago, but it is the descendant of a legendary Linux distro, Mandrake Linux. I talked about it a then because they just rolled out the first version of their rolling release edition, codenamed “Rome”. Well, this one is roughly on par with Arch in terms of being bleeding edge, so let’s find out what changes they’ve made here:

· Linux 62 kernel series
· Latest From
o KDE
o Mesa graphics stack,
o Wayland
o XOrg Server
o LLVM/Clang
o GNU Binutils
o GCC
o GNU C Library
o systemd 253
· LibreOffice 7.5.1 office suite 
· Firefox 111 
· Chromium 110
· Krita 5.1.5
· digiKam 7.9
· GIMP 2.10.34 
· Calligra Suite 3.2.1
· SMPlayer 22.7.0
· VLC 3.0.18 video players
· VirtualBox 7.0.6
· GNOME 43.3
· LxQt 1.2

OpenMandriva Lx 23.03 Released with Linux 6.2, Mesa 23, and KDE Plasma 5.27

#distromonday #openmandriva #Linux #indie #rollingrelease #Rome #TechFreedom #FOSSnews


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DM 52.3 – blendOS: One Distro to Rule Them All?

I talked about this when it first came out, and even daily drove it on my Surface (not a representative sample) for about a month. The concept is cool. It is based on Arch, which gives you the rolling feel along with the excitement of being on the bleeding edge of development for the OS, but also gives you access to containerized ways to use APT and DNF package managers if you really want or need to. This, in concept, as I said, is a sweet setup, almost ideal, really. However, I do not think that it is ready for mass adoption yet, as on my system (again, not any kind of representative sample for computers in general, as it has been a thorn in my backside since I bought it about 2 years ago), it became unstable and sluggish far more quickly than it should have in my opinion. Perhaps I didn’t use it as intended, as I used the basic, standard pacman to install packages most of the time. I didn’t take advantage of the semi-immutability offered by the containerized version of pacman, though I did play with DNF and APT just a little. Which package managers are in play, here?
· apt
· dnf
· yum
· pacman
· yay
· Blend

It currently uses a distrobox implementation, and this is admittedly in the early stages of development, so my experience will not necessarily be representative in your case, either. I installed the KDE version (big shock, I know), and used it as normal for about a month, when it started to break pretty badly on me and I couldn’t get what I needed to do done easily because of instability. It also ships with the Flathub store app as an app which can fully install flatpaks, rather than simply downloading their flatref files for something else to install. I mentioned distrobox, but it will not be around in this distro for much longer, as it will be replaced with podman very soon. They will also soon be shipping a GUI config tool for the containers, rather than relying on CLI to get the job done. It is a cool option, and perhaps when it is more stable, I will try it again, and do it more properly this time. Is it the One? Not at this time, but I will keep an eye on it as it develops. I like the idea of an immutable Arch install, though that kinda messes with my head, to be honest.


https://news.itsfoss.com/blendos/

#distromonday #Linux #blendOS #arch #onedistrotorulethemall #goodstuff #notreadyyet #FOSS #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

Tech Freedom Intro: What to expect from my channels and website.

#intro #TechFreedom #telegram #truthsocial #publicsq #gab #Truth

TTT 52: Ubuntu PSA & Linux Mobile News

TTT 52.1 – Running Ubuntu? Here’s Another Reminder to Keep it Updated
Well, Canonical has released a new round of CVE (Critical Vulnerability Exploit) Patches, so run your updates to close these 9 attack surfaces down for your machine:
· CVE 2022-2196
o Could leave your VMs open to leaking private data from either the host or a fellow guest OS
·  CVE-2022-42328 and CVE-2022-42329
o Which are both race conditions in the Xen networking backend and could cause the kernel to crash
§ What’s a race condition?
· A situation where two drivers are trying to access the same resource at the same time, and do not get scheduled properly by the kernel and it causes problems, often a denial of service (crash, etc)
·  CVE-2023-0266
o a use-after-free vulnerability discovered in the ALSA subsystem that could allow a local attacker to crash the system by causing a denial of service
· CVE-2023-0469
o a use-after-free vulnerability discovered in the io_uring subsystem
· CVE-2023-1195
o another user-after-free vulnerability found in the CIFS network file system. Both vulnerabilities could allow a local attacker to cause a denial of service (system crash) or execute arbitrary code
· CVE-2022-4382
o A race condition in the USB Gadget file system implementation, which could lead to a use-after-free vulnerability in some situations and allow a local attacker to crash the system by causing a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code
· CVE-2023-0045
o a flaw in the prctl syscall implementation that made the kernel fail to protect against indirect branch prediction attacks and allowed a local attacker to expose sensitive information
· CVE-2023-23559
o an integer overflow vulnerability found in the RNDIS USB driver that could allow a local attacker with physical access to cause a denial of service (system crash) or execute arbitrary code by plugging in a malicious USB device

https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-22-10-users-get-new-linux-kernel-security-update-9-vulnerabilities-patched
#TTT #patches #ubuntu #security #Linux #PSA #FOSSNews #TechFreedom
TTT 52.2 – UB Touch OTA-1 Out Now for you Linux Mobile Devotees
Wow, I just talked about OTA 25 last week, and the devs shocked us with the first rebased OTA update already… Welcome to Focal Fossa, everyone. What else is new with this surprise (limited) release? Which devices is it currently available for?
· Devices
o Fairphone 4
o Google Pixel 3a
o Vollaphone 22
o Vollaphone X
o Vollaphone
· New Stuff
o Focal Fossa LTS
o Lomiri UI
o The systemd init system
o Ayatana Indicators
o Waydroid
o a new porting style for device porters
o support for building many components against GCC 12 and Qt 5.15 LTS
· Improvements
o fix for an issue when trying to mute the phone’s microphone during phone calls
o a fix for a context menu issue in the Morph Browser
o fixes for various issues when receiving MMS messages.
o XWayland integration
o support for running legacy X11 apps on Lomiri,
o support for PIN codes between 4 and 12 digits
o updates broadband provider data
o adds support for USB-C USB-PD
o improves PAM/logind integration
o and refreshes various Lomiri effects.
· New
o Morph Browser
§ received hardware-accelerated video decoding with support for up to 2K video playback and video chat support
o Camera app
§ supports barcode reading
o Messaging app
§ now lets you zoom in on conversation text using a pinch and spread gesture, and the Addressbook app now lets users add notes for a contact and a URL address

https://9to5linux.com/first-ubuntu-touch-ota-release-based-on-ubuntu-20-04-lts-is-out-now
#TTT #UBTouch #Linuxmobile #updates #FOSS #TechFreedom #FOSSnews

Free Your Internet

Internet Freedom

One-stop shop for getting you and your business transitioned off of Big Tech online platforms and tools, so that you have control of your data once again. I will also help you to find better alternatives.

#TTT #techtips #TechFreedom #internetfreedom #nogoogle #nometa #noyahoo #nomicrosoft #Truth
TTT 52.3 – Ventoy 1.0.90 With Support for Even More Stuff
The boys and girls on the Ventoy team have expanded support even further by adding updated LibreElec and Chimera Linux to their repertoire. That means that the easiest USB/SD Card/ external storage bootable media creation and management solution that much better. If you ever

https://9to5linux.com/ventoy-1-0-90-adds-support-for-libreelec-11-0-and-chimera-linux
#TTT #FOSS #Linux #crossplatform #ventoy #multiusb #TechFreedom #FOSSnews
a.
10 Things My Wife Thinks You Should Know about Tech Freedom.

#TechFreedom #wifeysauce #getfree #explainer

FFW 37: Counter-Strike 2: Confirmed and More

FFW 37.1 – Counter-Strike 2 is For Real

I covered the likelihood that it would be coming soon about a month ago… Valve has confirmed and told us that it, along with a huge upgrade for Source 2 would drop by this summer. I suggest you look at the videos in the article below if you want more of a tease. I don’t play, but know that many do, and there will be lots of good stuff being improved and changed in the new game vs CS:GO. Here is a short list:
· responsive smoke
· sub-tick updates for more responsive gameplay
· overhauled maps
· Source 2 tooling for the community
· your whole inventory carries over from CS:GO
· higher resolution models for basically everything
· improved visual effects
· an upgraded UI
· And more


https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/03/counter-strike-2-from-valve-releasing-summer-2023/

#FFW #Linux #FOSSnews #CS2 #valve #steam #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

FFW 37.2 – What Happened to AMD GPUs in DOTA2?

If you play DOTA2 and run it on a Linux box with an AMD GPU, you may have noticed reduced fluidity in the game of late. This is due to an updated Graphics Pipeline Library issue causing the driver, while in game to consume a ridiculous 3GB of RAM. Luckily, this bug has been squashed after it was demonstrated to developers working on the project, and it now takes a more reasonable 450MB RAM vs the 3 GB they were seeing. On the other hand, unless you are adventurous, you may not have seen it anyway. However, that feature will be enabled by default in the next version of the MESA stack, so getting that bug squashed now is excellent. Good on you, Devs.


https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/03/amd-radv-driver-will-soon-stop-eating-ram-with-some-games/

#FFW #Linux #DOTA2 #AMD #gfxdirvers #bugssquashed #performance #FOSSnews #linuxgaming #TechFreedom

 

 


Freed Computer

https://techfreedom.pro/freed-computer/
https://techfreedom.pro/free-your-pc/

#freedcomputer #linux #nospying #safe #TechFreedom #Truth

 

 

FFW 37.3 – NVidia Graphics Driver News

We have a new full version of drivers from Dr. Huang and team Green. What’s new in this one?

· Indirect Branch Tracking support
· Better Xfce support
o New profile to prevent degradation when
§ OpenGL compositor backend is enabled along with G-SYNC
§ suspend and resume support when using GSP firmware
· ZSTD compression to shrink the installer and make it quicker
· Better flatpak support
· improved support for Wayland apps running on using the PRIME render offload feature on a system with an integrated AMD GPU
· And more…
As always, check the link if you want more information on this driver release.

NVIDIA 530.41.03 Graphics Driver Brings Better Xfce Support, Faster Installer

#FFW #Linuxgaming #nvidia #graphics #drivers #updates #TechFreedom #FOSSnews


What to use instead of Big Tech online:

#techtips #TechFreedom #justsayno #nomorespying #advice #Truth

WE 31: Violence, Banks, and AI, Oh My!

Bob Lee Stabbed to Death in SF
Credit Suisse Buyout News
Amazon Vs Labor and UK May Sue Over Cloud Monopoly
AI News
Tiktok News


Weekend Edition, Cashapp founder stabbed to death in SanFran, Credit Suisse & UBS, Amazon Labor Union Woes, UK signals lawsuit over AWS and Azure in UK stifling competition, pResident Depends holding meetings on AI, chatGPT makes wild accusations, Head of Signal Foundation reaffirms dedication to never adopt AI tech in the Signal system, Other popular Chinese Apps, TikTok opinions

WE 31.1 – Bob Lee, Founder of CashApp Stabbed to Death
Sad story to start off the day, but I’m committed to doing some sort of human interest piece at the top of the weekend edition from now on. It would appear that Bob Lee, who was a fixture in Silicon Valley for the last 20 years or so, first as an engineer at Square, then when he founded CashApp later, was stabbed to death in the Rincon District of San Francisco. Many will miss him, he sounded like a genuinely great guy. Good bye, Bob.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/tech/bob-lee-tech-executive-death/index.html
#cashapp #boblee #rip #sadday #square #cashapp

WE 31.2 – Shotgun Wedding in Switzerland
UBS and Credit Suisse tied the knot, so to speak, in a very rushed ceremony due to the failing health of Credit Suisse over the last handful of months. Swiss authorities pushed them together, and both parties were willing, for the most part, however, others around them are questioning the pairing. some are concerned that it concentrates too much risk in UBS specifically and Switzerland generally. We will see what becomes of this union which apparently will take 3-4 years to completely effect, due to the gargantuan nature of both partners. It looks like there will be significant layoffs as these two big banks become one, after all it doesn’t make sense to have reduplication of efforts when part of the point of mergers like this is to streamline operations. Some shareholders were pretty mad at the meetings which each bank held in the beginning of the week. Markedly moreso on the Credit Suisse side than on the UBS side, but no one was really happy that they didn’t get a vote in the matter. Sure, the UBS shareholders were happy to have one fewer competitors in the world, but having a major deal like that crammed down their throats tempered their enthusiasm a bit.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/05/ubs-holds-first-shareholder-meeting-since-controversial-credit-suisse-takeover.html
#UBS #creditsuisse #mergers #banking #highfinance


WE 31.3 – Amazon in Trouble More?
31.3a – Ever Hear About the Amazon Labor Union?
Well, they won their court case a year ago, but Amazon still refuses to acknowledge that they exist. A guy named Christian Smalls, who was let go from one of the NY Amazon warehouses back in 2020, decided that workers needed to unionize to protect themselves from the increasingly poor working conditions they faced in the warehouses. As you can imagine, it hasn’t been all sunshine and roses for the fledgling union, because even though they won the first battle, which is simply to be able to organize at all, there have been other hurdles. Personality conflicts, differences of opinion, and of course resistance from the behemoth that they are trying to organize in order to have a voice in order to bargain with. Amazon has hardly bothered to notice that this ragtag, grassroots group, headed by an individual whom Amazon lawyers thought was “not smart or articulate” a few years ago. It will be interesting to see what happens with the ALU’s efforts to move any further than they have already, which is quite something. I’m neither a huge fan of mega-corps like Amazon nor of the overtly socialist nature of unions, which is already starting to manifest itself in Mr. Smalls. He travels all over the country, wearing Versace, and hobnobbing with celebrities, then passes down pronouncements as if from on high.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/01/tech/amazon-labor-union-one-year-later/index.html

31.3b – AWS and Azure to Face Anti-trust Litigation in UK
OFCOM, the UK communications regulator looks poised to bring a case against both tech monsters’ cloud divisions for being anti-competitive. What are they looking at here, though? In the words of the Ofcom’s director, they have found, “High barriers to switching are already harming competition in what is a fast-growing market. We think more in-depth scrutiny is needed, to make sure it’s working well for people and businesses who rely on these services.”
In light of that, they have decided to refer the matter to the Competition and Markets Authority, who is ready to do an investigation of their own, actually seems to be champing at the bit, so to speak. They have already reviewed preliminary findings from Ofcom and is primed to look into the matter. The issues that led to Ofcom referring them to the CMA center around high egress fees, artificial technical barriers to interoperability with other providers, as well as incentive fee structures meant to encourage clients to only use one cloud provider for all their needs. This strikes me as a fairly open & shut case, as far as I’m concerned, but the giants, including Google, which speak for between 65-75% of the cloud market in the UK are all using these tactics (not all that differently from here in the States). Well, we will see what these regulators do and can do to these big dogs. I have my doubts that it will wind up as anything more than a slap on the wrist for these tech giants, but who knows, maybe they’ll be out for a pound and a half of flesh this time instead of 3 ounces. I’ll keep an eye on it, but it sounds like the earliest there is likely to be more movement on this issue will be something like November.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/tech/amazon-microsoft-uk-cloud-services/index.html
WE 31.4 – AI News
31.4a – Johnathan Turley: Falsely Accused of Harassing a Student by a ChatGPT Hallucination
Wow… Dr. Turley is a rare “conservative” within the halls of legal academia, and has never done anything like what chatGPT hallucinated he did to a student, this thing even fabricated a WaPo article about the incident. I have to wonder how much of this happens on a regular basis as people overuse that damned thing for crap it was never intended to do. So a colleague of Dr. Turley’s from UCLA, who was doing some research on harassment accusations against law professors via chatGPT. It manufactured this whole thing, which strikes me as about the same level of nonsense as a hit piece in a tabloid, a blatant example of libel, only there is no one to sue over it. Of course, Dr. Turley has never taken students on trips in 35 years of teaching law, much less has he ever even been accused of anything untoward… Obviously there was never a WaPo article about a non-existent incident. So, if it can make things up whole cloth like that and no one is available to refute the spurious claims, then that gets added to the list of sources for future research. Dr. Turley is trying to say that these tools are untrustworthy in this opinion piece, and I have heard of other similar things happening, so I tend to agree with him on this.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/04/03/chatgpt-misinformation-bias-flaws-ai-chatbot/11571830002/

31.4b – pResident Depends Holds Meetings About AI
Wow, his handlers must really be trying to focus everybody on this issue for some reason, just like the Trump indictment earlier this week. This article is kind of unfocused and feels a bit rushed, to me, but that is beside the point, it is a story about Brandon Depends. He can’t even pay a visit to the necessary on his own successfully (see stain on his pants at the Vatican, lol), much less speak coherently about any topic, not even ice cream. “You know, the thing…” this clown is a colossal embarrassment and humiliation for our country. We were at least semi-functional under Trump and his admin. The cracks were certainly beginning to show then, but the level of dysfunction in this country now is almost incomprehensible to me. I digress, though. They are supposed to meet and talk about the “risks and opportunities” of AI, in the face of the runaway success of tools like chatGPT. They are also likely to push congress to pass legislation to allegedly limit the data collection of Big Tech companies in America. As long as that bill isn’t as much of an inversion of the rights of US citizens enshrined in our Constitution, or is not really about something else, like limiting free speech in the name of protecting us from “misinformation” which is anything that an administration chooses to deem as “wrongthink” or inconvenient, such as in the RESTRICT Act. That monstrosity needs to be shouted down harder than Dinesh D’Souza at U Mass Amherst a few years ago. If it were really what it claimed to be instead of a blank check for the Secretary of Commerce to sign whenever they feel like it to shut down inconvenient information being shared on social media, because apparently bans and shadow bans aren’t enough, shoot, even jailing someone over a meme and a joke shared during the 2016 election is apparently not enough for them, they want absolute control of the internet, just like the CCP has with their “Great Firewall”. But again, I digress. I am glad to hear that the privacy of Americans is suddenly on the radar for Resident Depends.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/04/biden-to-discuss-ai-risks-and-opportunities-in-meeting-with-advisors.html

31.4c – A Bright Spot for Signal
The president of the Signal Foundation is making lots of noise about how they will never incorporate AI tools into the encrypted messaging app. Does she want a cookie or a ribbon? The app is meant to be a tool for more private communications, not a data farming enterprise like social media is in general. She also made it clear that they hold onto as little user information as possible to still be able to provide the services that they do through the app. This puts me a bit more at ease about using Signal, however, I am very uncomfortable with the people who endorse it, such as people with thoroughly mixed reputations such as Edward Snowden. However, that is not the point right now. The point is that they are standing up to pressure to incorporate some of those God-awful privacy violators called “generative ‘AIs’” into their non-profit based private communication app. Good on them.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/31/signal-president-meredith-whittaker-learned-what-not-to-do-from-google.html

WE 31.5 – Tiktok Thoughts
31.5a – Public Sentiment About the Ban
As of a week ago, half of the people surveyed by Pew Research were behind the idea of ban, overall, and most (64% of) respondents were aware of the CCP connections for TikTok and ByteDance, most (60% of) GOP-aligned people were in favor of the ban, while only 43% of Dem-aligned respondents were favorable toward the idea. I feel like there is a huge influence operation underway about this issue, precious little real information on either side of the issue, and I am finding myself leaning toward supporting TikTok’s continued operation in the country, but not because I actually like the platform, which I don’t, I think it can be and often is used to manipulate people in certain ways which are counter to their well being. Rather because I get very, very uneasy when the two wings of the political bird of this country come together on anything, as 95% of the time, whatever that issue that got overwhelming bipartisan support winds up stripping us of freedoms and rights which should be guaranteed by the limits placed on the government by the documents upon which this country allegedly rests (the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution).
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/31/tech/tiktok-ban-pew-survey/index.html

31.5b – Is TikTok the ONLY Popular Chinese App in the US and UK?
Simple answer: No.
What else is there? CapCut (a popular video editor often used to create videos for TikTok), Shein (a fashion app aimed at younger millennials and Gen Z), and Temu (an online shopping app which has quickly overtaken WalMart and Amazon for the younger set). If we are really concerned about China getting our data, then we need to be consistent and ban all of these other big China-related apps – these are just the 3 biggest, other than TikTok, though, out of thousands of others. Ooh, how many mobile games which are little more than shinier, more engaging methods of data harvesting are there that should be banned similarly, if we are to be concerned with TikTok purely due to its alleged CCP ties? Either it all needs to be shut down faster than a nerd asking a prom queen out, or our gov’t needs to shut its increasingly corrupt and inept trap about all of this.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65072407