𝕿𝖊𝖈𝖍𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖘 Bulletin for Sunday, December 27, 2020 ┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅┅ Generated Mon 28 Dec 04:31:18 GMT 2020 Created by Dr. Roy Schestowitz (𝚛𝚘𝚢 (at) 𝚜𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚣 (dot) 𝚌𝚘𝚖) Full hyperlinks for navigation omitted but are fully available in the originals The corresponding HTML versions are at 𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈 Latest in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕 and older bulletins can be found at 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒕𝒙𝒕-𝒂𝒓𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 Full IPFS index in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔 and as plain text in 𝒉𝒕𝒕𝒑://𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔.𝒐𝒓𝒈/𝒊𝒑𝒇𝒔/𝒕𝒙𝒕 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐒 ════════════════════════════════════╕ Previous bulletins in IPFS (past 21 days, in chronological order): QmbWU8LZAoueFo3sFHg9yUhSStNjX3gHp2HdjiLbC1S1CY QmTHV7Z8T6n8D8q3njyZvFEW2igm8TkT7vWz9BwTnLtZCY QmYq9nBUinhGJxPEMNFrimohy385yozBshCqbwY9ZfdYW9 QmQxFpN1zaj9q7VEH7KHHxsNW8nxKEKw42BNKPmSZXAgEP QmekNhrLiLMoZ4ZPFaxo2Ys3qBUQn368R3QWYRgu3C9e7P QmdpfTZxDZZquSvRkhW95WZVsZytNYA53p6shrBUHSQPYr Qmd1GuTBmLn3K3aP2r3xam7p7o7rcouxvySMxbKNnvpGnw QmbHQS5itmbUekP3QFagQqT2gXkX5PJ2UD3mpmkjBE6KvP QmdXfrL6vz8jFumCUchTsn25vMWff8gnK48LzAbN6StXRM QmeaBomXSM7Mc53Kq6ifnZkFjL5raWVHd4xdvZ9UzJxXgB QmXf3HB6Jq9wMuXp5vFfkaXztzF9P8W4KPSrjLhYhM6V2m QmXzsVS69veQV4wbmm5RatdgHTFJcrsrh9FBMtUzEBqMMN QmbJS9vucziTqe4eGSR9un6EoifwTo4y3oYap1EqCtiEZJ QmSAYUFrCv96gXitnJ8gDGZj7xGiXMyWaEsog4tkRBPshu QmT1eNxN6hLuYyaPNLfaNNzeKF64xWsLazqhpFcUYV7WVx QmSfJ73cH6MLEHhch8bgEhBGC43kVNADRJUpeQv2hcUsrE QmXGEdtH99MG2mdPMztAxsUXJWBLMXyuYaqdnx6inpuX7c QmfVbepdUPJyP7uetx4BJryV4hgoNKQfrTCxSWgQPN1Rdx Qmerspha5sBXhxrSkZzuXGw8WeXrUmG8Gn1nDfz6fRSY8K QmXjVc4NJjr6RYHKPa7EFWknSzg9ZwLN4YnErbmcqdcEKL QmbKJcqeWwdwEZRmynaB1QUsBfphEamM17YNSFjDbd967Q ╒═══════════════════ 𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐗 ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⦿ Better, Simpler and Vastly Lighter Front Page for Techrights (After More Than Half a Decade) | Techrights ⦿ IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 26, 2020 | Techrights ⦿ Video: How Microsoft Killed Nokia and Harmed an Entire Country | Techrights ䷼ Bulletin articles (as HTML) to comment on (requires login): http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/better-simpler-and-vastly-lighter-front-page-for-techrights-after-more-than-half-a-decade/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/irc-log-261220/#comments http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/microsoft-nokia-history/#comments ䷞ Followed by Daily Links (assorted news picks curated and categorised): http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/matebook-with-deepin/#comments ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 52 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/better-simpler-and-vastly-lighter-front-page-for-techrights-after-more-than-half-a-decade/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.27.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Better,_Simpler_and_Vastly_Lighter_Front_Page_for_Techrights_(After_More_Than Half_a_Decade)⠀✐ Posted in Site_News at 11:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇A_redesign_mock-up_for_Techrights⦈_ Summary: We’ve finally simplified and improved the site’s front page (a belated and much-needed task) FOR THOSE who are not familiar with Techrights history, in 2006 the site was a blog, just like many other sites. The Wiki was added years later (to help organise past stories and general information), becoming its front page as well for a number of years. A Drupal front end was added in 2013 to better serve new visitors who aren’t familiar with the site and might be better off reading something other than the latest stories. Over the past few months we’ve added daily bulletins, IPFS and nowadays more videos as well. So we’ve finally decided to debate a redesign of the front page (more details to be found in today’s IRC logs). Based on the above mock-up we’ve put together the_new_front_page (techrights.org), which contains no external files, not even images (let alone scripts and CSS). We hope it helps focus on what’s new and what’s important without unessential clutter. All the old pages are still intact, they’re just not directly visible from the new front page. █ ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 94 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/irc-log-261220/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.27.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ IRC_Proceedings:_Saturday,_December_26,_2020⠀✐ Posted in IRC_Logs at 2:15 am by Needs Sunlight 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_HTML5 #boycottnovell_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇H 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇HTML5_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_HTML5 #techbytes_log_as_HTML5 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #techrights_log_as_text #boycottnovell_log_as_text 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇t 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴_🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽_⦇text_logs⦈_ #boycottnovell-social_log_as_text #techbytes_log_as_text Enter_the_IRC_channels_now =============================================================================== § IPFS Mirrors⠀➾ CID Description Object type IRC log for  QmcoTF2ShUuT4L3RPpABeJi9zYHNhXePYYUpSX35jK8Dhu #boycottnovell 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell  Qme841Q6iy6nxcxkGDBMnvgvKqQBdzq2fHXqngNSnf9ekR (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  QmZ8rAL1kgVC8TdZLxThDQF5BDAuTC4Pj5dA5bimszyCw4 social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #boycottnovell-  Qmd4TyMrcUs2ckEnWapQozf8AhDrathn3wK1WJFT1PtcG4 social 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ (full IRC log as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmXmpX2LW7Vsjc2hWJDhkvS1NmEqbv3wnvY6GscLPGFx3i #techbytes 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techbytes  QmZ8SdnXjRz393ueRMsRnk5UwvEpkuGVgzFHNeoNXJH6RB (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) IRC log for  QmcDd8eDwGVuGpVqQapYRgmmWt6CXRNG4sAjQbiKcuA89e #techrights 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇HTML5 logs⦈ (full IRC log as HTML) IRC log for #techrights  QmS1UyZo6dq5nRLtJzwyebgnkuKeLG4vTvqgbY2oLGv7gJ (full IRC log 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇text logs⦈ as plain/ASCII text) 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇IPFS logo⦈ § Bulletin for Yesterday⠀➾ Local_copy | CID (IPFS): QmbKJcqeWwdwEZRmynaB1QUsBfphEamM17YNSFjDbd967Q ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 207 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐋𝐄 ═════════════════════════════════════════════════╕ (ℹ) Images, hyperlinks and comments at http://techrights.org/2020/12/27/microsoft-nokia-history/#comments ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.27.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Video:_How_Microsoft_Killed_Nokia_and_Harmed_an_Entire_Country⠀✐ Posted in Deception, Microsoft, Videos at 9:31 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz http://techrights.org/videos/microsoft-nokia-history.ogv Summary: Response to revisionists who blame the demise of Nokia on anything but Microsoft’s cult tactics and infiltration The comment [1] sent to us for assessment deals with topics we’ve covered here for many years [2][3], so equipped with credible reports — including from high- level insiders — we’re responding to overt revisionism regarding Microsoft, Elop, and Nokia. Towards the end we also mention how many choose to forget what Microsoft has done to the likes of Nokia, Novell and many others (even Yahoo! this past decade) and instead treat Microsoft like it’s not a danger anymore. Two people recently pointed out to me a new FSF article (year’s end message) that hardly mentions Microsoft at all. “That’s the article with 12 mentions of Apple and one sheepish mention of Microsoft,” told us one person in IRC this morning. “Still the same,” he said. “FSF is basically Microsoft PR. They will bash everyone but Microsoft. Same situation with EFF. And Linux Foundation” (sponsored_by_Microsoft_for_nearly_half_a_decade_now). █ Links from the video: 1. The_comments_in_question 2. MOSAID 3. Nokia 4. Ex-Nokia_exec_Tomi_Ahonen_explains_the_Microsoft_Nokia_mess 5. The_Full_Story_of_Nokia_and_Microsoft_–_How_we_got_here,_and_why Microsoft_will_fail_with_Nokia_handsets_just_like_it_did_with_Kin 6. As_Microsoft_kills_off_the_remnants_of_Nokia,_it_signs_off_on_its_own eventual_demise 7. 15_Ways_Nokia’s_N900_Is_Better_Than_Apple’s_iPhone_(and_5_ways_it’s_not) 8. Nokia_N900_official,_uses_Linux_to_‘kill’_iPhone 9. When_No_means_No?_What_part_of_No_do_Nokia_and_Microsoft_not_understand? US_Consumers_Reject_Lumia_at_96%_Rate_says_Latest_Survey_(Corrected) 10. Now_We_Know_Why_–_Nokia’s_Elop_had_a_$25M_personal_bonus_clause_from_the Nokia_Board_if_he_was_able_to_sell_the_handset_unit_to_Microsoft ䷩ 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎 264 ╒═══════════════════ 𝐃𝐀𝐈𝐋𝐘 𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊𝐒 ═════════════════════════════════════════════╕ ⠀⌧ █▇▆▅▄▃▂▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁ 12.27.20⠀▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█ ⌧ ✐ Links_27/12/2020:_Wine_6.0_RC4_and_MateBook_With_GNU/Linux_in_China⠀✐ Posted in News_Roundup at 4:25 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz 🄸🄼🄰🄶🄴 🄳🄴🅂🄲🅁🄸🄿🅃🄸🄾🄽 ⦇GNOME bluefish⦈ § Contents⠀➾ * GNU/Linux o Distributions o Devices/Embedded * Free_Software/Open_Source * Leftovers * § GNU/Linux⠀➾ o § Desktop/Laptop⠀➾ # ⚓ Huawei’s_first_Kirin-powered_laptop’s_specs_leak⠀⇛ A trustworthy Weibo tipster posted a photo of the notebook’s box revealing some key specs. The device is powered by the Kirin 990 chipset paired with 8GB of RAM, 512GB SSD and a 14-inch 1080p display. The laptop runs Linux-based Deepin OS 20 but the transition to HarmonyOS will be made possible in the future. The laptop itself is named Qingyun L410 and is expected to be a cheaper version of the MateBook 14. There’s also the possibility of the device supporting 5G connectivity given that the SoC itself features an integrated 5G modem. o § Audiocasts/Shows⠀➾ # ⚓ This_Week_in_Linux_#131:_Xfce_4.16,_UX_Redesign_for_GNOME 40,_Kdenlive,_ODROID-Go_Super,_Steam_Sale_–_TuxDigital⠀⇛ On this episode of This Week in Linux, we’ve got some big Desktop Environment news with the latest release of Xfce with 4.16 and GNOME announced UX Changes Coming to GNOME 40. There’s a lot of App News this week with releases for Kdenlive and Darktable, plus we’ll check out some new apps such as NeoChat which is a new Matrix client from the KDE team and a Markdown Editor called Zettlr. We’ve also got a bit of gaming news this week to check out, for example we got an ODROID powered Nintendo Switch like device and we’ve got some really interesting gaming updates to the Linux Kernel. Since this is the last episode of the year, you may have noticed the decorations. If you’re listening to the audio only edition of the show, this may be an episode you’ll want to check out the video to see those decorations, It’s quite festive. We’ve got all that and much more coming up right now on This Week in Linux! All that and much more on Your Weekly Source for Linux GNews! # ⚓ Full_Circle_Weekly_News_#194⠀⇛ The End of ZaReason https://news.itsfoss.com/zareason-shutdown/ CentOS Linux 8 End of Life Moved from 2029 to 2021, Stream Takes Over https://lists.centos.org/pipermail/centos-announce/ 2020-December/048208.html New CentOS Replacement Lineups Spring Up https://github.com/rocky-linux/rocky https://blog.cloudlinux.com/announcing-open- sourced-community-driven-rhel-fork-by-cloudlinux Raspberry Pi OS Updates Out https://9to5linux.com/raspberry-pi-os-has-a-new- release-with-improved-audio-and-printing-support Experimental Elementary OS on the Raspberry Pi Out https://news.itsfoss.com/elementary-os-raspberry- pi-release/ Debian 10.7 Out https://www.debian.org/News/2020/20201205 Kernel 5.10 Out https://www.lkml.org/lkml/2020/12/13/290 KDE Apps 20.12 Out https://kde.org/announcements/fulllog_releases- 20.12.0/ CPUfreq 1.5.1 Out https://www.linuxuprising.com/2020/12/linux-cpu- speed-and-power-optimizer.html Souk Out https://www.debugpoint.com/2020/12/souk/ # ⚓ RSS_Feeds_Make_The_Web_Better⠀⇛ Sometimes I don’t want to visit a website to see it’s content, I just want it in a simple text like which is what an RSS feed provides but more and more websites are removing this feature or hiding so today I thought I’d show you how you get RSS feeds for a lot of popular websites and some less so. o § Kernel Space⠀➾ # ⚓ Sony_releases_new_PS5_controller_driver_–_supports_Linux system⠀⇛ When announcing the new driver, Sony plans to transfer part of the Sony Interactive Entertainment hardware support from the existing “hid-sony” to the “hid-PlayStation” driver. The initial form of this driver has more than 1,400 lines of code to meet the needs of the PS5 controller. The Sony PlayStation 5 uses a custom AMD 8 core 3.5GHz Zen 2 CPU, a custom RDNA 2 GPU containing 36 sets of CU units, a floating-point computing capability of 10.28 TFLOPs, a 16GB GDDR6 memory, a custom 825GB SSD, and a 4K UHD Blu-ray drive. SSD is the key to PS5 performance improvement. The seek time of PS4 takes 2-50 seconds, while PS5 is almost instant. In terms of loading speed, PS5 can load 2GB of memory in 0.27 seconds, while PS4 takes 20 seconds to load 1GB. Sony believes that the new SSD will significantly speed up the PS5 game loading speed. According to the company, games can launch within a second with almost no loading time. # ⚓ Linux_5.10.3⠀⇛ I'm announcing the release of the 5.10.3 kernel. All users of the 5.10 kernel series must upgrade. The updated 5.10.y git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/ stable/linux-stable.git linux-5.10.y and can be browsed at the normal kernel.org git web browser: https://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/stable/ linux-stable.git;a=summary thanks, greg k-h # ⚓ Linux_5.10.3_Released_–_Fixes_Possibility_Of_Duplicate Encrypted_Filenames⠀⇛ Linux 5.10.3 is out today as a post-Christmas stable release update. Linux 5.10.3 does not contain any back-ported fix for the Btrfs performance regression so that will likely come in a later point release. The Linux 5.10.3 changes are mostly an assortment of minor bug fixes throughout the massive code-base. # ⚓ Stable_kernel_5.10.3⠀⇛ The 5.10.3 stable kernel update is out with another set of important fixes. # ⚓ The_Comparison_of_Btrfs_vs_Ext4_Filesystems_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ There are many filesystems out there for Linux. The most common ones are Ext4, Btrfs, XFS, ZFS, and so on. Each of the filesystems has its use cases, pros, and cons. You may have a hard time deciding which filesystem to use. In this article, I will compare the Ext4 and the Btrfs filesystem. So, if you’re having a hard time deciding whether to use the Ext4 filesystem or the Btrfs filesystem, then Introduction to the Ext4 and the Btrfs Filesystems: Ext4 Filesystem: Ext4 is the fourth version of the Ext (Extended) filesystem. It is a successor to the Ext3 filesystem. The first version of the Ext filesystem was release in 1992 for the Minix operating system. It was later ported on Linux operating systems. The Ext4 filesystem was released in 2008. Ext4 is a journaled filesystem. Btrfs Filesystem: Btrfs or the B-Tree filesystem is a modern Copy-on-Write (CoW) filesystem. It is new compared to the Ext filesystem. It was designed for the Linux operating systems at Oracle Corporation in 2007. In November 2013, the Btrfs filesystem was declared stable for the Linux kernel. Feature Comparisons of the Ext4 and Btrfs Filesystems: The Ext4 and Btrfs filesystem was designed to solve different types of problems. So, the design goal of the Ext4 filesystem was different than the Btrfs filesystem. Still, they are filesystems. They do have some similarities that we can compare. # ⚓ Paragon_Publishes_Latest_NTFS_File-System_Patches_For_Linux –_Phoronix⠀⇛ One of the pleasant kernel surprises in 2020 was Paragon Software looking to upstream their previously commercial NTFS driver. This driver offers read-write support and more advanced capabilities than the current read-focused NTFS driver presently in the mainline kernel and better off than the other FUSE-based driver. This driver hasn’t been mainlined yet but Paragon published new patches on Christmas. # ⚓ Comparison_Between_Btrfs_and_XFS_Filesystems⠀⇛ There are many filesystems available for use with Linux. The most common Linux filesystems include Ext4, Btrfs, XFS, and ZFS. Every filesystem has its unique use cases, pros, and cons. Due to the variety of options available, you may have a hard time deciding which filesystem to use.To help you with your choice, this article compares the XFS and the Btrfs filesystems. If you are having a hard time deciding whether to use the XFS filesystem or the Btrfs filesystem, then this article should help. Let us begin! Introduction to XFS and Btrfs Filesystems XFS Filesystem: XFS is a high-performance 64-bit journaling filesystem. It was originally developed by Silicon Graphics, Inc. in 1993 for the IRIX operating system and was later ported to the Linux kernel in 2001. Btrfs Filesystem: Btrfs or the B-Tree filesystem is a modern Copy-on-Write (CoW) filesystem. It is new compared to the Ext filesystem. Btrfs was originally designed for the Linux operating systems by the Oracle Corporation in 2007. In November 2013, the Btrfs filesystem was declared stable for the Linux kernel. # ⚓ Linux_5.11_Sees_Quick_Fix_For_A_Context_Switching Performance_Regression⠀⇛ Linux 5.11-rc1 is due for release later today and at least one regression has seen a quick resolution. Intel’s kernel test robot saw a ~1.6% performance regression in one of its scheduler benchmarks. The change causing the regression was trying to ensure only per-CPU KThreads run during hotplug. # ⚓ Linux_5.11_Is_Heavy_On_New_Features,_Improvements_For 2021⠀⇛ The Linux 5.11 merge window has been open the past two weeks following the debut of Linux 5.10 but is set to close today. A lot of new features and exciting improvements were merged for Linux 5.11 although it is somewhat of a bumpy ride at the moment but should be buttoned up and ready for its stable release come February. Linux 5.11 is very heavy on new feature work for this post-LTS cycle and what will be the first major stable kernel release of 2021. There are a ton of Intel and AMD changes, Syscall User Dispatch for helping some newer Windows games run under Wine, continued IO_uring advancements, many Btrfs file-system improvements, Lenovo contributed ThinkPad palm sensor detection support, and much more. o § Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Best_Data_Backup_Application_for_Linux⠀⇛ This article will cover a list of applications that allow you to periodically take backup of your important files and folder. Some of these tools allow you to clone and take backup of full hard drives while others can be used to sync files online using various cloud storage services. It is important to take regular backups of your important data. Backup tools these days provide more features and ease of use than simply copying files over to another drive. Various utilities listed in this article should help you in creating periodic backups and save your mission critical work. o § Instructionals/Technical⠀➾ # ⚓ How_to_Fix_Kali_Linux_slow_apt_update_process⠀⇛ Today Itself I have installed Kali Linux on my Desktop, and When the installation part is over. The first and most important part is to update the repository to get the latest update of libraries. So, I have started sudo apt update && apt upgrade - y and I have noticed the update is taking longer than expected. I check the internet speed, and the speed was good enough. In this guidepost, we will show you how to fix slow apt updates. Before this, understand why the apt update is getting download slow. # ⚓ Git_branches_explained_–_The_Linux_Juggernaut⠀⇛ Thus far we’ve explored different features of the GIT version control system like viewing a log of the git commit history, viewing differences between staged and committed versions of files. We also explained the concept of HEAD and explored how we could use the git checkout command to revert to previous versions of files and most recently we demonstrated how we could integrate and store our local repositories remotely on GitHub, a service for storing all the git related data on our local systems. In this article, we will be explaining one of the most important features of the git version control system i.e. branching. # ⚓ Git_branches_continued_–_The_Linux_Juggernaut⠀⇛ In our previous article, we introduced you to the concept of branches in git. We explained what are branches and demonstrated how we could create a branch, switch to a different branch and delete a branch. In this article we will demonstrate how we use branches to prototype our work while keeping a functioning copy of our work available in the master branch. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Jenkins_In_Linux?⠀⇛ Continuous Integration tools are boon for developers, allowing them to integrate code into a shared repository and letting them know about problems in the builds. This allows developers to fix problems quickly by easily locating them. One great CI tool is Jenkins. If you’re a developer who uses Jenkins and has recently switched to Linux, here’s how to install Jenkins in Linux. First, let’s talk about why Jenkins is better than other CI software out there. # ⚓ How_To_Install_Thunderbird_on_Ubuntu_20.04_LTS_–_idroot⠀⇛ In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Thunderbird on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, Mozilla Thunderbird is the world’s leading email client software; it is free, open- source, cross-platform, works flawlessly, designed to handle a high flow of emails. Not only email clients, but it is also one of the best chat and news client apps as well. Mozilla Thunderbird is being used by millions of people all around the globe on daily basis to cater to their email and news feeds. It is lighting fast app and is extremely lightweight, it hardly contributes to your system load or high resource consumption. This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step by step installation of Thunderbird Email Client on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian based distribution like Linux Mint. # ⚓ How_to_Install_Wine_on_Linux_Mint_and_Run_Windows_Apps⠀⇛ A major concern with Windows users making a transition to Linux is whether their applications and games will run as expected. As you well know, Linux and Windows are two very distinct operating systems with different files, libraries, and software packaging. Sure, you could install a virtual machine or dual boot Linux and Windows, but that often requires huge disk space and may not always be appropriate. Thankfully, you can use an application known as Wine to install and run Windows applications in Linux. # ⚓ SSH_Command_explained_in_5_simple_steps⠀⇛ The SSH client creates a secure connection to the SSH server on a remote machine. So in this scenario, the user can use a SSH client in their computer and connect to a remote SSH server. There are a number of SSH clients available, both free and commercial. OpenSSH is the most widely used client in nowadays and it is available on all major platforms, including Linux, OpenBSD, Windows, and macOS. In this Guide, We will discuss how to use the OpenSSH command-line client (SSH) to login to a remote machine and run commands or perform other operations. # ⚓ Ubuntu_Iptables:_How_to_Control_Network_Traffic_Using iptables?_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ “…A user-space Unix utility that gives system administrators the ability to configure IP packet filtering rules implemented by the Kernel’s net filter module.” Iptables act as a firewall using packet filtering rules based on various criteria such as IP address, port, and protocols. This guide will discuss how to configure and use iptables rules on an Ubuntu system to secure your network. Whether you are a novice Linux user or a seasoned system administrator, from this guide, and in one way or another, you will learn something useful about iptables. Iptables come pre-installed on Ubuntu and most Debian based distributions. Ubuntu also packages GUFW firewall, a graphical alternative you can use to work with iptables. [...] In this tutorial, we have covered the basics of iptables. Starting with working with iptables, basic commands, default iptables tables, and parameters. From what you’ve learned, you should be in a position to use iptables to create firewall rules that help secure your system. # ⚓ Things_To_Do_After_Installing_Kali_Linux⠀⇛ Today we are resuming our “Hacking with Kali Linux” series. So far we have covered the content of the series and how to install Kali Linux. There are various ways we can install & use Kali Linux and we have included them all in the last article. Once Kali Linux is successfully installed, there are a few things that you need to do and understand before moving forward. # ⚓ Share_files_between_EC2_instances/Local_and_Ec2_Instance (Linux)⠀⇛ This tutorial will explain , How to share files between EC2 instances or between local machine and EC2 Instance. # ⚓ Attempt_to_deploy_“Employee_Register”_to_Tomcat_9.0.40_ (MySQL_8.0.22)⠀⇛ Original code been reworked was taken from https://www.javaguides.net/2019/03/servlet-jsp- jdbc-mysql-example.html However, inserts fails to commit on the most recent version of MySQL 8.0.22. Following bellow are the only Java classes I was forced to update to get the job done # ⚓ How_to_Secure_GitLab_Server_with_Let’s_Encrypt_SSL⠀⇛ We always say, Security first. It should be the first priority to keep your hard work safe from the hackers. This tutorial will take few minutes to secure Gitlab server using Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates. Let’s Encrypt provides free SSL certificates to secure your domains and an easy way to auto updates. This tutorial will help you to secure Gitlab service with Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate with enabling the auto renew feature. If you are going with a fresh installation have a look at below guides. # ⚓ How_to_Disable_Firewall_in_Oracle_Linux_8?_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ When it comes to securing any computer system, the very first solution that comes to your mind (especially if you are from a cyber-security background) is a Firewall. Now, maybe you’re thinking why I didn’t take the name of an anti- virus. Actually, to answer this question, we must understand the works and capabilities of a Firewall and anti-virus software. We can simply subsequently distinguish them. The job of an anti-virus is essential to detect and destroy all the potential viruses and worms that are residing in your computer system. On the other hand, a Firewall acts as a barrier between all the external threats and stops them from entering your computer system in the first place by blocking them right there. That is why, in a way, a Firewall can be considered more powerful and useful than anti- virus software. If you are extremely concerned about the security of your system, then you must have a Firewall enabled on your system. However, at times, it happens that the rules defined for our Firewall are way too strict, and hence they even tend to block legitimate requests. Therefore, you may consider disabling your Firewall for some time. That is why today, we have decided to show you the method of disabling the Firewall in Oracle Linux 8. # ⚓ How_do_I_Revert_to_a_Previous_Commit_in_Git?_–_Linux_Hint⠀⇛ The “git revert” command performs an amazingly useful operation within the Git environment. At times, you wish to undo the changes that you have once committed without actually removing those changes from the “git log” so that you can always redo them in the future whenever you want. The “git revert” command exactly allows you to do so. It means that you can easily nullify or cancel the effect of any previous commit without actually removing it from your Git history. Therefore, this article is intended to teach you the method of reverting to a previous commit in Git in Ubuntu 20.04. # ⚓ How_to_download_Oracle_Linux_latest_ISO_file_without signing_up⠀⇛ Oracle Linux is a fork of RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) with the same packages, security, and updates the user will get on RedHat OS. After the CentOS 8 end of life announcement, the Oracle 8 Linux become a strong contender in the Linux server category to replace CentOS 8 users systems. Well, if you want to try out Oracle Linux, its ISO file is available on the official website. However, some users may feel annoying to download it via Oracle Software Delivery Cloud because you have to go through the signup window there. Yes, registering, sharing details to get an open-source project’s ISO file doesn’t sound good to me. It should be like we are doing on the CentOS website or Ubuntu’s, visit, click, and get the file that’s it… # ⚓ GNU_Linux_Debian_–_remap_shift-right_to_menu_key_(r_mouse button_click_key)⠀⇛ anyone who tried to use keyboard on a different computer in a different language quickly will have made the experience: it’s almost impossible. except for space and enter, the keyboards are not very similar in layout and keymapping and using a laptop with foreign language keyboard layout is almost impossible without stickers to tape over the keys. # ⚓ UbuntuHak:_E-Mail_notifications_in_FreeNAS_using_Gmail⠀⇛ Setting up email alerts is a smart way of making sure nothing unexpected happens on a FreeNAS server without knowing about it or having to check the UI every now and then. A “should be straigthforward” way ough to be setting up a gmal account as the outgoing email. Nevertheless, it is not as simple as clicking “yeah, sure, email me”. o § Wine or Emulation⠀➾ # ⚓ Wine_6.0-rc4_Released⠀⇛ The Wine development release 6.0-rc4 is now available. What’s new in this release: Bug fixes only, we are in code freeze. The source is available now. Binary packages are in the process of being built, and will appear soon at their respective download locations. # ⚓ Celebrate_The_Christmas_Season_With_Some_Wine:_Wine_6.0-RC4 Released⠀⇛ While being released one day late due to Christmas, Wine 6.0-RC4 is out. This is the latest weekly test candidate of the forthcoming Wine 6.0 as the annual stable release due out in January for this leading software to run Windows programs/games on Linux, macOS, and the BSDs. While the Christmas holiday led to some time off for many developers, Wine 6.0-RC4 is still a sizable update with 29 bug fixes having landed in the past week. o § Games⠀➾ # ⚓ Linux_Gets_Official_PS5_DualSense_Controller_Driver⠀⇛ The mouse and keyboard setup may be the standard way to game on PC, but as more and more multiplatform games come to computers, there is a growing number of PC games that work better with a controller. Because of this, a lot of Linux users will likely be glad to know that they’re getting an official driver for the PlayStation 5’s DualSense controller. The open-source operating system has had support for Sony products for a while now, courtesy of a “hid-sony” driver. However, according to Phoronix, Sony has released a new “hid-playstation” driver over the weekend that allows the DualSense to be used in Linux in both USB and Bluetooth mode. # ⚓ The_Valve_Index._On_Linux._On_A_Min_Spec_Machine.⠀⇛ What follows isn’t fully a review or guide, but a mixture of my initial experiences and criticisms as a completely new to VR owner of the Valve Index. And this being Boiling Steam, and since I only use Linux, I’ll be relaying what it is like to set up and use the Index on Linux today. Oh, and I just barely have the minimum specs Valve lists. This will be interesting… (A much more complete history, guide, and everything VR coming soon from our new writer Patola. Be on the look out!) Before getting into the details, let’s appreciate the clean (and secure!) packing Valve has done, with wonderful presentation of all the components in the full kit. (For $1,000 it is the least they could do.) You lift up the top layer, like a box of holiday chocolates, to reveal more underneath. And you know I am a sucker for boxes. o § Desktop Environments/WMs⠀➾ # ⚓ Whisker_Menu_2.5_Released_with_Updates_for_Xfce_4.16_ [Ubuntu_PPA]⠀⇛ Whisker Menu, an alternate application launcher for Xfce, released version 2.5.0 with updated icons and refactor code for the new Xfce 4.16 desktop. # ⚓ Whisker_Menu:_Release_Notes⠀⇛ Add option to show all applications by default (Issue #4) Rearrange sidebar buttons to match default category (Issue #9) Show panel button title as tooltip in icon-only mode (Issue #12) Always sort top-level categories Vertically center contents of header Use new Xfce action icons Use new desktop ids for default programs Rewrite to hide menu on focus out Refactor code to use new Xfce functions Refactor building translations Translation updates: Bulgarian, Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, French, Galician, German, Italian, Korean, Lithuanian, Malay, Polish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Slovak, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish # § K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt⠀➾ # ⚓ KDE_Celebrated_Christmas_With_KIO-FUSE_Stable Release,_NeoChat_Matrix_Chat_App⠀⇛ Even with Christmas week there has been a lot of improvements still happening in the KDE world. KDE developer Nate Graham is out today with his usual weekly summary of the development happenings over the past week. Some of the Christmas week 2020 improvements include: - KDE’s KIO-FUSE saw its first stable release as the desktop’s FUSE-based remote location mounter. - NeoChat is KDE’s Matrix-based chat application, which was forked from the Spectral program. # ⚓ Wrapping_up_2020_and_looking_forward_to_2021⠀⇛ As 2020 comes to a close, there’s several things ongoing around KDE Itinerary which a year ago I would have considered out of reach, or simply didn’t have on the radar yet at all. The common theme in all of those is collaboration with other communities and organizations. And I’m looking forward to more of this in 2021! # ⚓ December_updates_and_a_Christmas_goodie_for_cable geeks⠀⇛ …my Plasma5 ‘ktown’ first got adopted as Slackware ‘vtown’ in testing and a bit later replaced the old KDE4 in the core distro. Lots of package recompilations and upgrades to work with the newer stuff in Slackware. [...] Despite that stress I have been enjoying myself still, just not in the spotlights. The semi-sudden switch in Slackware from KDE4 to Plasma5 and refreshing its XFCE Desktop had some consequences for my liveslak project. It took some time to work out a new optimal package set for the small XFCE image, and in particular the DAW Live image which is based on a bare Plasma5 Desktop needed attention to make it tick again. # ⚓ Blog_housekeeping_and_stuff⠀⇛ I had planned to write different blog post but this housekeeping took most of the time for me, so I will finish post tomorrow. On separate topic, I realize my blog has been dormant for a year now. Last blog post I made was Plasma Mobile as a daily driver about when I was stuck in Europe with no working phones except PinePhone. While this blog was mostly dormant, I had been writing various posts and contributing to posts on Plasma Mobile blog. # ⚓ Jot_down_your_ideas_in_a_digital_notebook⠀⇛ KJots is the default personal wiki of KDE’s Plasma desktop. If you’re running the Plasma desktop on Linux or BSD, you already have KJots, and you can launch it either as a self-standing application or from the Kontact Personal Information Manager (PIM) application. [...] Editing text in KJots is a lot like editing text in KWrite or medit. There’s a button or menu for whatever you need to do, including styling your text as bold or italics or color, changing the font, adding arbitrary bookmarks (in KJots), creating lists, and so on. It’s not as flexible as Kate, but it’s got all the basics you need for general- purpose composition. Linking One thing that’s difficult to simulate in the digital world is the ease of flipping back and forth between pages in a physical book. I don’t know that anyone’s solved this problem yet, but as consolation, KJots allows you to link between notes. In a way, you’re anticipating your future desire to flip back to a previous note by including an easy-to- follow hyperlink straight to the page you want yourself to refer to later. Technically, it’s more efficient than the physical equivalent (although it does require you to think of it beforehand, or else you’re back to scrolling through notes or using Ctrl+F to find a keyword). To link from one note to another, select the word or phrase you want to make a hyperlink. Click the Format menu, and select the Link option. You can choose to create an external link (to a website, for instance) or an internal link to another note, even if the note is filed in a separate book. o § Distributions⠀➾ # ⚓ 5_Best_Linux_Distro_Releases_of_2020,_Including_Fedora, Manjaro_&_Pop!_OS⠀⇛ Below we list the 5 best Linux distro releases of 2020 as voted for by you, the omg reader! We asked you to tell us your top distro picks from the last 12 months and you duly obliged. And to answer the question a few of you might have, no: they’re not all Ubuntu-based OSes! Yes, this might be a blog about things through the prism of Ubuntu but it’s not the only project in town. As I’ve said before —cringe warning— Ubuntu is a country in a continent called Linux, not an island on its own. It’s part of a broader, diverse, and very rich landscape. [...] Manjaro is technically a rolling release distro but it offers fresh ISO images throughout the year. In 2020 there were four of these: Manjaro 19, 20, 20.1 and 20.2. For the purposes of this list (which is about specific releases) it was April’s Manjaro 20 that got the most attention in our mentions. Manjaro 20 ‘Lysia’ was available in Xfce, KDE, and GNOME flavours, shipping Linux Kernel 5.6, adding Flatpak and Snap support to the pacman package manager, made zsh the default shell, and debuted with a ZFS installation option, pleasing those wanting to branch out and try newer filesystems. # § Puppy Links/EasyOS News⠀➾ # ⚓ EasyOS_Dunfell_0.102_released⠀⇛ Version 0.101 was released only a couple of days ago: https://bkhome.org/news/202012/easyos- dunfell-0101-released.html However, there was a serious bug in the bash shell interpreter: https://bkhome.org/news/202012/easyos- dunfell-update-weird-error.html I have recompiled bash, it is now a PET, not yet uploaded, but have used it to build 0.102, uploaded here: # ⚓ Extra_patches_applied_to_bash_in_OE⠀⇛ I reported about a nasty bug in bash, running in EasyOS Dunfell 0.101 and earlier: https://bkhome.org/news/202012/easyos- dunfell-update-weird-error.html I recompiled bash in running Easy Dunfell, with patches from Debian, and created a PET, then released Easy 0.102. # ⚓ SeaMonkey_2.53.5.1_compiled_in_Easy_Dunfell⠀⇛ I had previously reported being able to compile SM 2.53.4 but not 2.53.5 and 2.53.5.1: https://bkhome.org/news/202012/kernel-5102- compiled-in-easyos-dunfell.html …no, it is not a glibc version problem as I first surmised, but a rust version incompatibility. I examined the build log, and saw that there were rust errors. # § Arch Family⠀➾ # ⚓ Manjaro_vs._Arch_Linux:_Differences_You_Should_Know⠀⇛ Recently, we made a comparison of Manjaro and Linux Mint. Both are excellent distros and offer great value for users with specific requirements. Today, we are going to compare Manjaro and Arch Linux. Manjaro is an Arch Linux based distro, and that makes the comparison even more interesting. As Manjaro is Arch-based, then why we need it in the first place? Can we not use Arch Linux and be done with it? By the end of the comparison, you will learn why Manjaro establishes its own identity even if it is based on Arch Linux. There is no doubt, Ubuntu-based distros are the most beginner-friendly. If you do not fall in the beginner’s domain, you need to try more challenging and powerful distros such as Arch Linux. The history of Arch is beautiful. However, only two distros rule the space, i.e., Manjaro and Arch Linux itself. # § IBM/Red Hat/Fedora⠀➾ # ⚓ Ask_Slashdot:_How_Long_Should_a_Vendor_Support_a Distro?⠀⇛ Long-term Slashdot reader couchslug believes that “Howls of anguish from betrayed CentOS 8 users highlight the value of its long support cycles…” Earlier this month it was announced that at the end of 2021, the community- supported rebuild of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS 8, “will no longer be maintained,” though CentOS 7 “will stick around in a supported maintenance state until 2024.” This leads Slashdot reader couchslug to an interesting question. “Should competitors like Ubuntu and SUSE offer truly long-term- support versions to seize that (obviously large and thus important to widespread adoption) user base?” # ⚓ CentOS_And_HPC:_It’s_Okay,_We_Are_Moving_On⠀⇛ The recent announcement by the CentOS project to discontinue mirroring Red Hat releases, which The Next Platform has already reported on, has hit some sectors hard. Those that depend on the freely available version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux are now cursing the CentOS project and looking for alternative solutions. In reality, there is no need to panic, particularly in the HPC community. Looking forward, CentOS 8 will not matter all that much to HPC and possibly in other sectors. Distributions will become second class citizens to containers. Ultimately, all that is needed is a base operating system to run the container. Consider projects like Singularity, where everything needed to run an application is encapsulated in a secure container file that runs pretty much at bare metal speed. Years ago, in the early days of the Warewulf Cluster Toolkit, Greg Kurtzer – the creator of CentOS, Warewulf, and Singularity – and I talked about the idea of bundling the essential/minimal operating system and libraries with applications in custom Warewulf Virtual Network File Systems (VNFS) images. The scheduler would then boot the application VNFS image on the assigned node (s) and everything would just work (no missing or outdated libraries or tools). Indeed, the Limulus Appliance clusters I have developed use open source RPM based Warewulf VNFS images and kernel bootstraps. Users can load/swap a new VNFS image using Yum and some basic Warewulf provision commands. Containers for HPC are basically the same idea, only better. You no doubt noticed CentOS is one of the projects listed after Kurtzer’s name; he started the Community Enterprise Operating System and has since moved on to other projects. And after Red Hat has moved CentOS Streams upstream from RHEL and is stopping CentOS downstream, Kurtzer recently started the Rocky Linux project that, like CentOS, is a Red Hat rebuild. In the HPC realm, Kurtzer has also been moving forward with Singularity containers and now has been working on HPC next generation (or HPCng for short). As part of the HPCng effort, there is a new version (V4) of the open source Warewulf Toolkit under development. The new version provides containers management capabilities. # ⚓ CentOS_Rebellion_Against_Red_Hat_Gains_Momentum⠀⇛ Launched in 2006, CentOS is widely employed by IT organizations that need an open source distribution of Linux to, for example, deploy a web server. Red Hat gained control over the CentOS trademark in 2014 as the primary sponsor of the project. Starting next year, Red Hat will only support CentOS Stream, which provides IT teams with a “rolling preview” of capabilities the company plans to make available on RHEL. Both RHEL and CentOS Stream are available via a subscription from Red Hat. The backlash to that announcement has been swift. Gregory Kurtzer, one of the co- founders of CentOS, has launched Rocky Linux with the support of more than 650 contributors to make sure IT organizations have access to a distribution of a fork of RHEL that doesn’t require a subscription. Kurtzer said many of those contributors work at independent software vendors (ISVs) that would prefer to see forks of RHEL continue to be available to their customers. Ultimately, the goal will be to add new capabilities to a Linux distribution in a more agile manner than what has occurred under the stewardship of Red Hat, added Kurtzer. o § Devices/Embedded⠀➾ # ⚓ LG_launches_LG8111_AI_SoC_and_development_board_for_Edge_AI processing⠀⇛ LG Electronics has designed LG8111 AI SoC for on- device AI inference and introduced the Eris Reference Board based on the processor. The chip supports hardware processing in artificial intelligence functions such as video, voice, and control intelligence. LG8111 AI development board is capable of implementing neural networks for deep learning specific algorithms due to its integrated “LG-Specific AI Processor.” [...] The LG8111 AI development board supports the Ubuntu 18.04 environment and consists of Reset, USB Host, UART Debug Port, and Power. It uses an integrated Wi-Fi platform for network connectivity that works at 2.4 GHz only. # ⚓ KT_R1_high-performance_Amlogic_S922X_portable_gaming console_coming_soon⠀⇛ Hardkernel recently unveiled plans to launch ODROID-Go Super portable retro-gaming console with a larger 5-inch display at the end of January. The console is still based on the relatively low-end Rockchip RK3326 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor coupled with just 1GB RAM found in ODROID-Go Advance. It does the job for the emulators targetted by the platform, but for a wider range of emulators, a faster processor, and more memory would be nice to have. That’s what the developers of KT R1 portable game console aim to achieve with a much more powerful Amlogic S922X hexa-core Cortex-A73/A55 processor and up to 4GB RAM. [...] The console will initially run Android 9.0 with Vulkan drivers for 3D graphics acceleration, but if the device performs well, and battery life is not a disaster, we should certainly see Linux-based firmware such Batocera.Linux, Lakka, RetroArch, etc… will certainly be ported to those platforms. # § Open Hardware/Modding⠀➾ # ⚓ Arduino_Blog_»_This_machine_stacks_dominoes automatically⠀⇛ Arranging dominoes in such a way that they knock each other down in sequence can be a fun pastime, but what if you would like a machine to take care of lining them up for you? As seen in the video below, Lewis of DIY Machines has come up with just such a device featuring 3D-printable parts and an Arduino Uno for control. The project uses a single gearmotor to both move the robot over the floor and actuate the stacking mechanism, creating consistent spacing without the need for additional sensors. A steering servo points it in the right direction, and its motion can be pre- programmed via the Arduino IDE. # § Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications⠀➾ # ⚓ Top_5_Linux_Phones_for_Privacy_in_2020⠀⇛ Albeit the fact that technological advancements are a good thing, it’s tough to deny that our data is becoming more vulnerable with each day. This could be attributed to how some operating systems aren’t giving enough attention to privacy or malware, phishing, and viruses becoming more powerful with time. Regardless of the cause, what’s important right now is to go for operating systems that provide you the most privacy. And, if you know a thing or two about operating systems, you’d know that there’s no beating the Linux- based ones when it comes to security and privacy. There are a few things you should know before opting for a Linux phone. First of all, you would lose access to applications such as Google Photos, Instagram, and Facebook since they might not be available on the OS. On the bright side, these apps are well-known for gathering user data, so you’re not here at a loss either. On the contrary, you might find some alternative apps with more or less the same functionalities, but they could be a tad difficult to use. # ⚓ OnePlus_OxygenOS_11_(Android_11)_update_known_bugs_& issues⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_11_Best_Android_Puzzle_Games_of_2020⠀⇛ # ⚓ 10_new_Android_games_from_the_last_week:_The_best, worst,_and_everything_in_between_(12/21/20_–_12/27/ 20)⠀⇛ # ⚓ The_most_popular_Android_versions_of_2020⠀⇛ # ⚓ Five_best_Android_emulator_games_like_PUBG_Mobile Lite_in_2020⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_unlock_your_Chromebook_with_your_Android_phone via_Smart_Lock⠀⇛ # ⚓ How_to_Get_the_Google_Camera_App_on_Any_Android Phone⠀⇛ # ⚓ Meet_the_cheapest_PC_in_the_world:_Android_smartness for_less_than_$20⠀⇛ # ⚓ Cellebrite_Claims_To_Decrypt_Signal_App_On_Android Devices⠀⇛ # ⚓ Samsung_Galaxy_S20_Ultra_Best_Android_Phone_Of_2020⠀⇛ # ⚓ Apocalypse_deferred:_These_Android_devices_will_no longer_go_offline_next_fall⠀⇛ # ⚓ Apple_is_finally_working_on_a_feature_that_Android phones_had_for_years⠀⇛ # ⚓ Samsung_Galaxy_A50s_One_UI_3.0_(Android_11)_test build_surfaces⠀⇛ # ⚓ UMIDIGI_A9_launched_as_the_world’s_first_Android_11 phone_with_IR_temp_measuring⠀⇛ # ⚓ Dragon_Ball_Z:_10_Best_Android_Fights,_Ranked⠀⇛ # ⚓ Google_Phases_Out_Android_Things⠀⇛ # ⚓ Google_fixes_‘can’t_reach_Google’_bug_on_smart displays,_Android_phones⠀⇛ # ⚓ [Reposted]_Huawei’s_HarmonyOS_2.0_beta_is_based_on Android’s_framework⠀⇛ Huawei released the HarmonyOS 2.0 beta version of the software for select devices earlier this month and one developer decided to dig a little deeper to see what Huawei’s new OS is all about. And as it turns out, it’s still pretty much Android-y. o § Free, Libre, and Open Source Software⠀➾ # § Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra⠀➾ # ⚓ LibreOffice_Drops_Its_Experimental,_Buggy_VLC Integration_–_Phoronix⠀⇛ LibreOffice has various “AVMedia” back-ends for supporting the playback of audio and video within the open-source office suite with GStreamer and other platform-specific options. LibreOffice also supported a VLC back-end for audio/video playback but after years of that code being experimental and not maintained, it’s now been eliminated. # § CMS⠀➾ # ⚓ Excellence_in_Innovation_2020_award_for_Kiwi_TCMS⠀⇛ Kiwi TCMS was a finalist in the Digital transformation category for the fact that leveraging the power of open source we’ve transformed an abandoned project (the predecessor of Kiwi TCMS) into a usable product with over 270000 downloads to date! # § FSF⠀➾ # § GNU Projects⠀➾ # ⚓ GIMP_2.99.4_Released_as_New_Development_Version to_GIMP_3.0⠀⇛ GIMP image editor 2.99.4 was released a few days ago as the second development release for the next major GIMP 3.0. # § Programming/Development⠀➾ # ⚓ Compared:_Raspberry_Pi_OS_vs._Armbian_vs._Debian_GNU/ Linux⠀⇛ Many programmers may have the same question: Is Armbian just another flavor of Debian GNU/ Linux, or is it something completely different? What are the differences between Raspberry Pi OS, Armbian, and Debian? In this article, we will discuss the Armbian, Debian, and Raspberry Pi operating systems in detail, including a comparison between these different systems. # ⚓ Intel_oneAPI_DPC++_Compiler_2020-12_Released_– Phoronix⠀⇛ Intel’s open-source oneAPI Data Parallel C++ compiler saw a Christmas Day update with the 2020-12 monthly update. Intel’s oneAPI DPC++ Compiler is their LLVM Clang based compiler focused on supporting their Data Parallel C++ dialect of C++ focused for heterogeneous programming from CPUs to GPUs and other possible accelerators like FPGAs. Friday’s release was the monthly update to this open-source compiler stack focused on the C++ and SYCL support. # ⚓ How_to_Teach_Your_Child_to_Code_During_Lockdown⠀⇛ Given how the world is becoming more technologically advanced, teaching your child to code is a vital and necessary element of their education. Here we show you how to teach your child to code while they’re in lockdown. The advice here is just as valid for improving your children’s coding knowledge, even if “stay in place” orders have been lifted where you are. # ⚓ C++_Namespace⠀⇛ A namespace in C++ is a generalized scope. Its declaration begins with the reserved word, namespace, followed by a name of the programmer’s choice, and then the block in braces. The block contains basic declarations and/or definitions of C++ objects, functions, and other entities. [...] An attempt to compile this program leads to a compilation error. There are two variables with the same name, varId. Though they are two different variables of two different types, int and float, the compiler rejects the two declarations because they are of the same name. The following program solves this problem by declaring the variables with the same name in two different generalized scopes… # ⚓ Try_GNU_nano,_a_lightweight_alternative_to_Vim_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ Many Linux distributions bundle Vim as their default text editor. This appeals to many longtime Linux users, and those who don’t like it can change it promptly after install anyway. Vim is a funny editor, though, as it’s one of the few that opens to a mode that doesn’t permit text entry. That’s a puzzling choice for any user, and it’s confusing for a new one. Thanks to GNU nano, there’s a common alternative to Vim for a lightweight terminal-based text editor, and it’s so easy to use—it has its most important commands listed at the bottom of its window. # ⚓ Excellent_Free_Tutorials_to_Learn_Alice_– LinuxLinks⠀⇛ Alice is an object-based, open source, educational programming language with an integrated development environment (IDE). Alice uses a drag and drop interface that allows users to create 3D animations, stories and video games. Alice is used by teachers at all levels from middle schools (and sometimes even younger) to universities, in school classrooms and in after school and out of school programming, and in subjects ranging from visual arts and language arts to the fundamentals of programming and introduction to Java courses. Alice exists in two versions. According to the makers, children are recommended to use the older version 2. This version teaches logical thinking and the basics of programming. The new version 3 focuses on object-oriented programming. # § Perl/Raku⠀➾ # ⚓ Assumed_predictability_|_Playing_Perl_6␛b6xA Raku⠀⇛ Vadim does not agree with me. Nor should he. I hardly ever agree with myself. Also, I’m happy for his disagreement because it allows me to write about a topic that I got in the queue for quite some time. The basic statement is that enforcing types allows reasoning about interfaces at compile time and maybe even earlier — at brain time. A reasonable thing to do in a statically typed language. When objects are involved, Raku does plenty of its thinking at runtime. Let’s have a look at two examples. # ⚓ On_Coercion_Method_Return_Value_–_LFlat,_The Home_of_Vrurg⠀⇛ As Wenzel P.P. Peppmeyer continues with his great blog posts about Raku, he touches some very interesting subjects. His last post is about implementing DWIM principle in a module to allow a user to care less about boilerplate code. This alone wouldn’t make me writing this post but Wenzel is raising a matter which I expected to be a source of confusion. And apparently I wasn’t mistaken about it. # ⚓ Perl_Weekly_Challenge_92:_Isomorphic_Strings and_Insert_Intervals⠀⇛ These are some answers to the Week 92 of the Perl Weekly Challenge organized by Mohammad S. Anwar. # ⚓ Misusing_newSVpv_|_The_Incredible_Journey⠀⇛ I managed to cause another set of obscure bugs by misusing newSVpv. The goal of this code is to split the RGB and the alpha (transparent) part of a PNG image, for the use of the PDF:: Builder module on CPAN. Here the SV in newSVpv is “scalar value”, and the “pv” means “string”. My code says this: sv = newSVpv (“”, len); and it causes the crash on Solaris and other operating systems because the above statement is a bad idea. What happens is that Perl copies “len” bytes from my string, where “len” might be a very large number, for a large PNG image, but I’ve given it the string “” to copy from. So Perl tries to copy from uninitialised, or possibly even inaccessible, parts of the computer’s memory. I found out my error only after almost giving up, by using valgrind to look for memory errors. o § Standards/Consortia⠀➾ # ⚓ RIT_Rachana:_a_classic_typeface_reimagined⠀⇛ It was around 2006 I started reading and writing Malayalam (my native language) text widely on the computer, thanks to Unicode and proliferation of Malayalam blogs. It was also at the same time that I noticed Malayalam text was not ‘shaped’ correctly in many cases on my primary operating system — GNU/ Linux. A number of Unicode fonts were available under libre license, of which I liked Rachana the most. Cut to chase: few years later, I ended up co- maintaining Rachana, trying to fix all the known bugs and succeeded to a large extent; among many other things. In 2020, with new insights into the design metrics of Malayalam fonts, the designer of Rachana — KH Hussain redrew all the glyphs of Rachana, completely overhauled Bold variant and freshly designed Italic & BoldItalic styles. All fonts in the new typeface contain more than 1100 glyphs with entire Malayalam characters encoded in Unicode version 13.0 and all conjuncts/ligatures in the definitive character set of Malayalam traditional orthography. The Latin glyphs are adapted from TeX Gyre Schola with express permission from GUST. These make the font suitable to typeset contemporary text, novels, poetry, scholarly works, Sanskrit text, Bible, archaic books and everything in between. * § Leftovers⠀➾ o ⚓ 9_insights_from_pivoting_to_remote_work_in_2020_| Opensource.com⠀⇛ 2020 was the year remote work became the norm. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people and companies shifted to “temporary” remote work, though many have now extended it indefinitely. As remote work will be the norm for the foreseeable future, here’s a review of some of the many articles published on Opensource.com regarding remote work practices, tools, and activities to manage this new normal. [...] You may think that you’re an expert after months of working remotely, but there is always still room to learn. And maybe some of the habits you initially put in place have now taken a back seat several months later. It’s time to look again at ways to improve your day-to- day. I’ve worked remotely for years, and I still found valuable tips in Birthe’s article on working remotely. The structure for the daily and weekly meetings is a great way to keep meetings focused and on track. o § Health/Nutrition⠀➾ # ⚓ US’s_Mass_COVID_Vaccination_Effort_Has_Had_a_Rough_Start⠀⇛ # ⚓ Why_530_Frozen_Bodies_Sit_in_a_Brooklyn_Warehouse⠀⇛ The warehouses at the pier held about 570 bodies earlier this month, most of which have been there frozen for months, with room for hundreds more. As the virus surges across the country, states and cities have been ordering or using refrigerated trailers for excess morgue capacity after watching New York’s example in the spring. In Texas, 10 trailers were delivered to El Paso in early November. In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced recently that the state had 60 refrigerated trailers standing by as makeshift morgues. But no other city yet appears to have had a death surge so severe that bodies have had to be held for months on end. # ⚓ Why_vaccine_hesitancy_could_be_a_bigger_problem_than expected⠀⇛ Dr. Monica Gandhi, infectious disease doctor and professor of medicine at the University of California–San Francisco, referred Salon to the CDC’s phased allocation guidelines. Gandhi argued that “this is a very ambitious and rapid rollout campaign,” comparing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout with that of the smallpox vaccine in 1947. On that occasion, 6,350,000 were vaccinated in New York City over a period of less than a month. o § Integrity/Availability⠀➾ # § Proprietary⠀➾ # § Security⠀➾ # ⚓ Cartoon:_The_Message_Is_Loud_and_Clear⠀⇛ # § Privacy/Surveillance⠀➾ # ⚓ Snowden:_“We_Can_Fix_a_Broken_System”⠀⇛ EFF is grateful to Ed for his support in our court cases, and to people like you for sustaining EFF during our Year-End Challenge membership drive. Your help is essential to pushing back the tide of unchecked surveillance. ___________________________ Seven years ago I did something that would change my life and alter the world’s relationship to surveillance forever. o § Defence/Aggression⠀➾ # ⚓ Relatives,_Activists,_and_Attorneys_Demand_Justice_for Andre’_Hill,_Unarmed_Black_Man_Killed_by_Columbus_Police⠀⇛ “Until we get justice for Andre’ Hill, there won’t be no peace in Columbus, there won’t be no peace in Ohio, there won’t be no peace in America,” vowed civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump at a Saturday vigil. # ⚓ Opinion_|_Condemning_Trump’s_Pardons_for_Blackwater Murderers—and_Illegal,_Unjust,_Unending_War⠀⇛ “We call on President Trump to pardon real heroes like Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden.” # ⚓ Opinion_|_‘Freedom_Is_Blossoming’:_After_Dismembering_a Journalist,_Saudi_Arabia_Goes_on_a_PR_Spree⠀⇛ Behind the media and money blitz, the kingdom remains one of the world’s worst human rights violators—both at home and abroad.  # ⚓ Germany_abandons_plans_for_own_NATO_drones⠀⇛ In Sicily, NATO has stationed five and the US Air Force two high-flying GLOBAL HAWK. An additional „national provision“ was to cost German taxpayers over half a billion euros # ⚓ Explosion_In_Downtown_Nashville,_Believed_To_Be ‘Intentional,’_Injures_At_Least_3⠀⇛ An early-morning explosion ripped through downtown Nashville on Friday, injuring at least three people, shattering windows and damaging buildings. Authorities believe the explosion was “an intentional act.” Police responded to reports of shots fired in the area at about 5:30 a.m. CT, when they encountered a recreational vehicle parked in front of the downtown AT&T building. # ⚓ Washington’s_favorite_Venezuelan_opposition_leader_exposes links_with_Colombian_paramilitary_and_narco_networks⠀⇛ o § Environment⠀➾ # ⚓ Local_Candidates_Embrace_Bolder_Climate_Policies_as_Federal Policy_Has_Faltered⠀⇛ # ⚓ Extinction_Rate_Is_Doubling_in_One_of_the_Most_Biodiverse States_in_the_Country⠀⇛ o § AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics⠀➾ # ⚓ Politicians_Failed_Us_in_2020._Our_Movements_Built_Lasting Power.⠀⇛ # ⚓ Opinion_|_Cybernetics_and_the_Trump⠀⇛ “The vice president could have said that one of the tasks of the Space Force guardians would be to protect the country from cyber attacks from space.” # ⚓ Taiwan_lowers_age_of_majority_to_18⠀⇛ The Legislative Yuan on Friday (Dec. 25) approved a government proposal to lower the age of majority from 20 to 18, but the change will not take effect until Jan. 1, 2023. [...] Lowering the age of majority also means that once they reach 18, young people will be able to apply for a smartphone account and credit card, open a bank account, sign a rental contract, buy sports lottery tickets, and even serve on the board of a company. Other laws, including those involving taxation, will be amended to define the age limit in more general terms, referring to the age of majority. # ⚓ Holding_Our_Breath_for_Four_Years⠀⇛ o § Censorship/Free Speech⠀➾ # ⚓ Palestinians,_Advocates_Blast_New_U.S._Rule_Requiring_‘Made in_Israel’_Label_on_Settlement_Goods⠀⇛ “Such a decision attempts to legitimize settlement- manufactured goods as well as the theft of Palestinian land and products,” said Palestine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  o § Civil Rights/Policing⠀➾ # ⚓ Housing_Justice_Advocates_Call_on_CDC_to_Extend_Federal Eviction_Moratorium⠀⇛ # ⚓ Hank_Adams,_The_‘Most_Important_Indian,’_Dies_At_77⠀⇛ Once referred to as the “most important Indian” by Native American rights advocate and author Vine Deloria Jr., Adams was central to the fight to uphold tribal treaty rights during the 1960s and 1970s. “An indispensable leader, and essential follower and a brilliant strategist, he shaped more Native American civil, human and treaty rights policies than most people even know are important or why,” the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission said in its announcement of Adams’ death. Adams was a Assiniboine-Sioux and a member of the Franks Landing Indian Community. He died at St. Peter’s hospital in Olympia, Wash. on Dec. 21. # ⚓ Trump_Administration_Pushes_Rules_Facilitating_Religious Discrimination_at_Work⠀⇛ It was the hectic week before Thanksgiving, and Amrith Kaur — the legal director of an advocacy group called the Sikh Coalition — was not prepared for a surprise update from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission that could have dramatic consequences for her clients. # ⚓ American_Psychosis_–_Chris_Hedges_–_the_United_States_of Narcissism⠀⇛ o § Internet Policy/Net Neutrality⠀➾ # ⚓ Beginner’s_Guide_To_Get_Email_Account_At_Disroot⠀⇛ This tutorial explains to you how to have a free email account on the internet. Your email address will look like yourname@disroot.org and people will send you emails using it. This tutorial covers the step by step registration process, how to access your inbox, how to send your first email, and how to integrate your computer with it using a program called email client, all with pictures. This includes the reason why Disroot is chosen here. Now let’s go and happy emailing! # ⚓ The_U.S._Internet_Is_Being_Starved_of_Its_Potential:_2020 in_Review⠀⇛ Since then, the pandemic changed our world, as remote work and education became a necessity for most people. At the very start of the stay-at-home orders, EFF expressed our concern that our failure to deliver ubiquitous, affordable, future-proofed infrastructure is going to hurt the most vulnerable. People that lack fiber infrastructure are stuck with second-class Internet access with limited potential as prices continue to rise, slow speeds become obsolete, and needs for better access grow. Most notably, in response to these problems, the House of Representatives passed a universal fiber plan as part of the COVID-19 recovery effort, and we continue to make the case to the U.S. Senate, which has passed no universal 21st-century broadband plan, as to why Majority Whip Clyburn’s Affordable, Accessible Internet Act is the federal answer. But so long as our local, state, and federal governments do not prioritize delivering future- proofed infrastructure to all people, our ability to make full use of the 21st century Internet will be limited. New services and applications will be tested and created in Asia, not here, and the next Silicon Valley premised on high upload low latency applications and services will not be in California. A billion fiber optic connections to the Internet are coming online in just a few years. A large majority of them will be in Asia, primarily led by China. These connections have already proven to be future-proof, capable of reaching not just gigabit speeds, but multi-gigabit speeds. Fiber is not only faster; it’s also cheaper long-term. # ⚓ EU_and_the_Digital_Services_Act:_Year_in_Review⠀⇛ One area we’re especially excited by is the EU’s cautious enthusiasm for interoperability, an anti- monopoly remedy that is highly specific to tech and deeply embedded in the history of technology. Early rumblings about future enforcement hint at interop’s centrality to the EU’s coming strategy, with some specific interoperability mandates under discussion. In our policy advocacy surrounding the DSA, we will focus on four key areas: platform liability, interoperability mandates, procedural justice and user control. As we have been introducing the principles that will guide our policy work, our message to the EU has been clear: Preserve what works. Fix what is broken. And put users back in control. The DSA is an important chance to update the legal responsibilities of platforms and enshrine users’ rights vis-à-vis the powerful gatekeeper platforms that control much of our online environment. But there is also a risk that the Digital Services Act will follow the footsteps of the recent regulatory developments in Germany, France, and Austria. The German NetzDG, the French Avia bill (which we helped bring down in court), and the Austrian law against hate speech (we advised the Commission to push it back) show a worrying trend in the EU to force platforms to police users’ content without considering what matters most: giving a voice to users affected by content takedowns. # ⚓ Double_Your_Network_Speed_with_This_One_Trick_·⠀⇛ I pay for 100Mb/s downstream Internet connection at home. For months I’ve been getting around 50Mb/s at my desk, and 100Mb/s over wifi on my phone, under optimal conditions. Here’s how I ‘fixed’ the ‘slow’ Internet (essentially LAN speed) connection at my desk. I use a bunch of TP-LINK “Powerline” adapters around the house to get wired networking to each room. “Well, that’s your first problem, Alan.” Yeah, yeah, I know that they’re not perfect, and I could get a faster WiFi access point, and flood the house with Cat 6 Ethernet cable. But I haven’t, I use PowerLine adapters. I am where I am. I have a combination of this TP-Linux TL-PA8010PKIT 1200 Powerline starter kit, with some extra TP-Link TL-PA8010KIT ones too. Note the main difference being the former have pass-through sockets for our glorious 3-pin plugs, and the latter don’t. o § Monopolies⠀➾ # ⚓ Holiday_Surprises⠀⇛ On January 13, AG Maciej Szpunar will give a virtual guest lecture at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law. AG Szpunar will address the topic of “New challenges to the territoriality of EU law”. Registration is free of charge and is open here until January 12. On January 27, the Institute of Intellectual Property of Luxembourg, together with the IP Office of Luxembourg, will hold the Luxembourgish Conference of European case-law on intellectual property. This year’s topic is “Object and function of intellectual property: half a century of CJEU case-law”. Registration is free of charge and is open here until January 22. # § Copyrights⠀➾ # ⚓ ‘The_Mandalorian’_Is_The_Most_Pirated_TV-Show_of 2020⠀⇛ ‘The Mandalorian’ is the most-pirated TV show released in 2020. The popular Disney+ series decrowned Game of Thrones which dominated the chart for years. Prime Video’s ‘The Boys’ is listed in second place and HBO’s Westworld completes the top three. # ⚓ Court_Orders_Google_To_Remove_Pirate_Music_App_or Face_Blocking⠀⇛ Following a complaint from a division of Warner, the Moscow City Court has ordered Google to remove a pirate music app from Google Play. This is the first order of its type following new legislation passed in October. Failure to remove the software could result in blocking by Russia’s Internet service providers. # ⚓ Purchasing_Online_Copyright_Infringement:_Tom_Hussey Photography_v._BDG_Media⠀⇛ A potential circuit split in U.S. copyright law exists over the volitional act requirement for copyright infringement liability (see Katpost by Ieva Gierdrimaite addressing VHT v. Zillow Cert. petition). Is purchasing and operating a website with locally-hosted infringing content a volitional act? Last week, the United States District Court for the District of Delaware ruled that this “passive” ownership and operation does not constitute a volitional act and, thus, does not constitute actionable copyright infringement. Let’s explore how the court reached this decision in Tom Hussey Photography, LLC v. BDG Media, Inc.. ╘══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛ ¶ Lines in total: 2532 ➮ Generation completed at 04:31, i.e. 32 seconds to (re)generate ⟲