● 01.25.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 25/01/2023: Pale Moon 32.0 and DXVK 2.1

Posted in News Roundup at 4:08 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

• First up in the news, RPi adds an autofocus camera, Fairphone2 hits EOL, more Tenacity than ever, new Unity, Xubuntu Minimal arrives soon, Brave adds Bridges, Kodi 20 is released, Libvirt 9.0 is out, Google gets shot down, and new features arrive in Firefox 109;

Graphics Stack

Applications

• Here are five free code editors for Ubuntu and other Linux systems which you can try out for your workflow.

• There is absolutely no shortage of code or text editors in the Linux ecosystem. Hence finding the best one for your taste requires a little exploration.

• Whether a beginner or a seasoned developer, finding the perfect code editor can make a big difference in your day-to-day routine.

Instructionals/Technical

• Do you want to operate multiple operating systems on your computer without dual boot? If yes, then VMware Workstation, a popular virtualization tool is what you need that lets you add multiple guest OS on your single PC.

• VMware Workstation is available in two different versions: VMware Workstation Player and VMware Workstation Pro. Workstation Player is a non-commercial that offers basic VMware functionality while VMware Workstation Pro offers advanced and professional features for which you need to buy a license key.

• In this article, I’ll walk you through installing VMware Workstation Pro on Debian 11/10 operating system.

• So, do you want to run application processes in complete isolation from your underlying Linux operating system, just like a virtual machine? Docker is an open-source application that fulfills the same purpose along with enabling developers to build and deploy applications consistently.

• Docker is available in two main editions: open source and free Docker Community Edition (Docker CE) and premium Docker Enterprise Edition (Docker EE).

• In this article, we’ll go through step-by-step installing Docker CE in a minimal version of Red Hat-based Rocky Linux 9/8 distribution.

• Microsoft Teams is a collaboration and communication platform developed by Microsoft. It provides various tools and features to help users stay connected and collaborate effectively, regardless of location. Installing Microsoft Teams on Ubuntu can offer many benefits to users, especially those who work in a remote or distributed environment.

• By default, the UFW firewall is not active on Ubuntu. When you try to check its status, it will show that your firewall is inactive.

• In Linux, a “special file” is a type of file that represents a device or a kernel object rather than a regular file or directory.

• Special files are typically found in the “/dev” directory and represent devices that are attached to your system. However, these files are not intended to be read like normal files.

• They are used to communicate with the device drivers and hardware, and their content represents the data stored on the device.

• Bash, also known as the “Bourne Again Shell,” is a command-line interface (CLI) for Linux and Unix-based operating systems. It is the default shell for most Linux distributions and macOS, and it can also be installed on Windows.

• Bash allows users to interact with their operating system by providing a command prompt, where users can enter commands and execute them. These commands can range from simple tasks such as listing the files in a directory, to more complex ones such as creating and manipulating files and directories, managing processes, and even programming simple scripts.

• Installing MySQL 8.0 using RPM or DEB files is a simple process that can be done in a few steps. MySQL is a popular open-source relational database management system that is widely used for web development, data warehousing, and other applications. In this article, we will show you how to install MySQL 8.0 using RPM or DEB files on different operating systems, including Linux, Ubuntu, and Debian. Before we begin, it’s important to note that you will need to have root or superuser access to your system to perform the installation. If you don’t have root access, you can use the “sudo” command to run the installation commands with superuser permissions.

• MySQL is one of the most popular open-source relational databases. It is used for storing and managing data for various types of applications, including web applications, content management systems, and more. In this article, we will cover how to install MySQL on a Linux server using YUM (Yellowdog Updater Modified) and APT (Advanced Package Tool) package managers.

• Before we begin, it’s important to note that the commands and examples in this article are specific to the Red Hat and Debian/Ubuntu distributions of Linux. If you’re using a different distribution, the commands and package names may be slightly different.

• MySQL is a powerful and popular open-source relational database management system. It is widely used in web development, app development, and data warehousing. MySQL is known for its reliability, performance, and ease of use. It is also compatible with a wide range of operating systems, including Windows, Linux, and macOS.

• In this article, we will take a closer look at MySQL, including its features, benefits, and examples of how it can be used. We will also explore some of the common issues that users may encounter when working with MySQL and how to troubleshoot them.

• If you’re new to Linux, the filesystem can seem a bit overwhelming at first. There are a lot of different directories and files, and it can be hard to know what they’re all for. In this article, we’ll take a look at the Linux filesystem and explain what all the different directories and files are for.

• Bash scripting is a powerful tool for automating tasks and streamlining your workflow. However, before you can start writing and running scripts, you need to set up your local environment to support Bash. This process can seem daunting at first, but with a little bit of knowledge and the right tools, you’ll be up and running in no time. In this article, we’ll go over the basics of setting up your local environment for Bash scripting, including installing the necessary software, configuring your terminal, and creating and running your first script.

• The UFW (uncomplicated firewall) is the easiest firewall you can use on Linux as it is simple and powerful simultaneously.

• So in this guide, I will share some common commands you should know if you are using or willing to use UFW in the near future.

• When you deploy Docker containers, you will oftentimes have to add customized variables. Those variables could include all sorts of information, including usernames, passwords, database names, etc. Of course, you can always hard code those variables into the container manifest but that is widely considered a security issue. On top of that, if you’re deploying similar containers over and over again, it’s not exactly efficient having to re-type all of that information.

• To solve these types of problems, most developers opt to go with the .env file. Essentially, an .env file is a list of key pair values that set specific variables for a container deployment. So, instead of having to code those variables into the manifest itself, you add them to an .env file and when you run docker-compose up -d, the variables will be applied from within the .env file (“env” being short for environment variables).

• LibreOffice Impress is a free open-source presentation editor for Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX. Like Microsoft Powerpoint, Impress allows you to create, modify and publish high-quality presentation slides straight from your desktop computer.

• Ubuntu is a popular Linux operating system known for its ease of use and stability. One of the features that many users appreciate about Ubuntu is its ability to run a wide range of software, including Microsoft fonts. This article will show you how to install the “ttf-mscorefonts-installer” package, which contains a collection of Microsoft fonts, on your Ubuntu desktop.

• Telnet is a protocol that allows users to connect to remote servers and devices over a network. It is a simple and widely-used method for managing servers and network devices, such as routers and switches. When incorporated into your Ubuntu desktop or server, telnet can benefit you by allowing you to access and manage network devices remotely, troubleshoot connectivity issues, and test network services. It is handy when you need to access a remote device or server but do not have physical access to it or if you have a headless server without a GUI.

• The Unity desktop environment is a popular user interface for the Ubuntu operating system. It is built on top of the GNOME desktop environment and offers a sleek, modern look and feel. One of the main benefits of using Unity is its ability to provide a consistent and intuitive user experience across different devices, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Additionally, Unity is highly customizable, allowing users to tailor their desktops to their specific needs and preferences.

• Skype is a popular communication tool that allows users to make voice and video calls and send instant messages, files, and images. It can be installed on various operating systems, including Rocky Linux. By installing Skype on Rocky Linux, users can stay connected with friends, family, and colleagues from anywhere in the world.

• This short post will help you to enable remote access to MySQL. Although this is not always recommended, it can be helpful.

• By default, and for security reasons, MySQL remote access is disabled, and you will only be able to access using Localhost. In most cases, this will suffice, but it is not always the case.

• A practical case is that some developers use virtual machines to do their testing and require a remote connection to it. Furthermore, if you need to manage the database remotely, it is also useful.

• One of the most recommended settings if you have a personal blog on your server is to make the web addresses understandable to novice users. This will make it well weighted by search engines. Therefore, today, you will learn how to configure mod_rewrite on Linux. Let’s see.

• The Python team has announced the new release of Python 3.11. At the same time, Python 3.12 development has been started. So as of today, Python 3.11 is the latest version available for installation. This version is loaded with various new features and security upgrades. The Python developer will feel better with this version in terms of error display and debugging etc.

• Vue.js is an open-source, progressive, approachable, and effective JavaScript framework for building user interfaces and single-page applications. It provides several tools and libraries that help users develop web applications with the knowledge of Node.js, JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

• SuperTuxKart is a kart racing game in which Tux and friends race together. There are several tracks that one can explore in SuperTuxKart. It can be played with AI (single-player mode) or in a split-screen mode with friends. It has various modes including 3 Strikes Battle, Time Trial, and Grand Prix. The player can explore tracks while racing. The best thing about this game is that it is lightweight due to which it can be installed and played on Raspberry Pi very easily. The complete process to install SuperTuxKart on Raspberry Pi is discussed in this article.

• Ninja is a small and simple build system that allows users to build binaries from source code. It was developed by a Google Employee, Evan Martins and has been quite effective in building binaries faster than the most used “make” command. It is extremely effective in those scenarios where you have to build a large number of input files on the system.

• Docker Compose is a docker utility based on compose file format and is used to run multi-container applications. Basically, the compose file of docker defines the configuration of multiple containers for an application. The multiple containers of docker-compose have the ability to share networks and data volumes in a customized environment. This tutorial presents the way to install docker-compose on Raspberry Pi.

• Raspberry Pi is a valuable device that can be utilized for various purposes, including the home automation system, creating web servers, controlling different machines and much more. The device can run several Linux distributions and has all the power to replace your desktop PC. However, it doesn’t have a built-in speaker for listening to audio. Thus, Raspberry Pi users are forced to connect an external audio device like speakers or headphones with the Raspberry Pi. But most users still won’t be able to listen to the sound from Raspberry Pi even after connecting the external audio device.

• If you are experiencing the same issue, follow this article’s guidelines to fix it and listen to the audio from a sound device connected to your Raspberry Pi.

• Most Linux systems have a login screen enabled by default that protects your data to be easily accessed by any external user. However, unlike other Linux-based operating systems, the Raspberry Pi login screen is disabled by default, making the system insecure and allowing every user to enter and access the system files.

• To protect the system files and personal data, enabling the login screen is better so that only trusted users can access the Raspberry Pi system. This article is a detailed guide to enable the login screen on the Raspberry Pi system easily.

• Information gathering is the technique of collecting numerous information about the target. Information-gathering is the most crucial first step in conducting penetration testing. Information gathering gives the penetration tester a gateway to decide on what are common vulnerabilities found in specific web applications.

• There are a lot of information-gathering tools in Kali Linux. In this tutorial, we will learn specifically about web application information gathering such as Whois, Whatweb, NSLookup, and CMSeek. Those tools are open-source and already pre-installed in Kali Linux. If you do not have Kali Linux, you could download or check those tools projects at GitHub. Links will be provided in each tool section below.

• A website page that you are visiting on the internet is not just an HTML and CSS page. There are many technologies that work together in running a website such as a web server, content management system, database management system, and soon.

• Wi-Fi connections are everywhere, at home, school, office, café, airport, hotel, restaurants, and many other places. Some of the Wi-Fi is protected and other is publicly open. As a hacker, you might sometimes wonder what is the password of that protected Wi-Fi, don’t you?

• There are two methods to achieve your goal. Either by cracking the captured WPA handshake which relies on a wordlist file, or set up an Evil Twin attack which only requires some time until a client gives the password to us. What is the most reliable and efficient attack between both of them? Of course, the Evil Twin attack, right? As a matter of fact, it is so easy to set up an Evil Twin attack with Kali Linux this day.

• Looking for a free and open-source media player for your Linux Mint 21 then try the MPlayer. It can be used for playing audios and videos either using GUI or through command line and not only that it supports a large variety format for videos and subtitles. This guide is all about installing MPlayer on Linux Mint so if you want to try this application on Linux Mint then read this guide.

WINE or Emulation

• On systems supporting HDR10 color spaces, HDR can now be enabled by setting the environment variable DXVK_HDR=1, or by setting the option dxgi.enableHDR = True in the configuration file. When using vkd3d-proton 2.8 or newer, this will allow D3D12 games to detect and use the HDR10 color space if they support it.

Games

• Originally I was going to make a video of applying a screen protector to the SteamDeck but… why? It’s not like it would be all that interesting and would probably be another turd of a video so just a blathering is just as well. The production time for writing something out is far, far less than filming, editing, rendering and publishing a video.

• I bought the screen protector from JSAUX at the same time as I purchased the dock station and protective shell. I hesitated putting the screen protector on the device because I did spend the extra bit to get that etched glass to take advantage of the anti-glare feature it provides. Anti-glare might be a bit of an oversell… more like dramatic glare reduction. Regardless, it is a very, very comfortable experience due to the reduced glare.

Distributions and Operating Systems

Fedora Family / IBM

Open Hardware/Modding

• locks are fantastic means of creative expression, as they serve a practical purpose and therefore have a reason to exist, but aren’t limited to pure functionality. As such, we see many interesting clock designs. But ihart’s 3D-printed digital clock made from 24 individual analog clocks takes the proverbial cake.

• When observed from a distance, this clock looks like it contains large seven-segment displays. But it actually displays the numerical digits of the time using the two hands of 24 individual analog clocks. Those analog clocks don’t show the time, but instead form the segments that make up the “digital” digits. The choreographed dance of the clock hands as the time changes is mesmerizing and the sheer complexity of the system should excite even the most stoic engineers in our audience.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

• As a Linux system administrator, I write a fair amount of code.

• Does that surprise you? Well, I strive to be the “lazy” sysadmin, and I do this, in part, by reducing the number of repetitive tasks I need to do by automating them. Most of my automation started as little command-line programs. I store those in executable scripts for re-use at any time on any Linux host for which I have responsibility.

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Chromium

• The Beta channel is being updated to OS version: 15278.41.0, Browser version: 110.0.5464.46 for most ChromeOS devices.

Mozilla

• Pale Moon is an Open Source, Goanna-based web browser available for Microsoft Windows, Linux and Android, focusing on efficiency and ease of use. Make sure to get the most out of your browser!

• Pale Moon offers you a browsing experience in a browser completely built from its own, independently developed source that has been forked off from Firefox/Mozilla code, with carefully selected features and optimizations to improve the browsers speed, resource use, stability and user experience, while offering full customization and a growing collection of extensions and themes to make the browser truly your own.

• Google recently named Pocket as one of the best apps of 2022, and it’s only getting better. We spent a lot of time with our users last year to see how we can improve the experience on the Pocket Android app. This month, we’re rolling out updates based on user feedback so you can easily find the stories and topics you care about. Read on to learn more about what’s new in the Pocket Android app.

Programming/Development

• Need to make a presentation, but don’t like using a GUI app? Take a look at Marp, the Markdown Presentation Ecosystem.

• Many folks like to knock slides as a format for conveying information. I don’t dislike slides as a way to convey and present (some) information. But I have never loved using apps like PowerPoint, Google Slides, or LibreOffice Impress. Converting Markdown to slides, though, is a great way for me to knock out a first draft of a presentation.

• When I work on work documents, I’ll often revert to Vim + Markdown to do a first draft. The important thing in a first draft is to get the outline in place and then fill out the text. Markdown offers enough formatting that I can do the headings (outline), bullets, minimal formatting, and links without needing to fuss with all the formatting options in a word processor.

• It’s been a really slow month for me on the Free Software front. Roughly since the KDE e.V. board meeting in Berlin I’ve been swamped with work-work (just lots of C++ code to grind through) and personal (family health matters) issues. The effect is that when I sit down at my FreeBSD workstation, I have at most 15 minutes a day to deal with whatever Free Software things affect me. That’s KDE, Calamares, and FreeBSD, so they all get short shrift. I finally did sit down this week and get a little more done, so here’s a brief report.

• Let us explore ways to have a healthy relationship with free software work, and how to enjoy working in free software for decades.

• FOSDEM is right around the corner, and finally in person after long years of dealing with COVID. I’ll be there again this year, and I’m looking forward to it! I have four slots on the schedule (wow! Thanks for arranging these, FOSDEM team) and I’ll be talking about several projects. There is a quick lightning talk on Saturday to introduce Helios and tease a full-length talk on Sunday, a meetup for the Hare community, and a meetup for the SourceHut community. I hope to see you there!

Perl / Raku

• With my open source work, I’ve historically taken an approach which relies more on integration testing than unit testing, but with some of my newer projects, I’ve tried adopting principles from $paidwork and applying them to my free software.

• This is a quick run-down of how I’m structuring my test suite in newer projects. It’s likely that many of my existing projects will never adopt this structure, but some may.

Rust

• The 1.67.0 pre-release is ready for testing. The release is scheduled for January 26. Release notes can be found here.

• Over the past few weeks, the Infrastructure Team has been working on a setting up a second Content Delivery Network (CDN) for releases and crates.

Leftovers

• Let’s start with the Urban Dictionary’s: “The idea in some leftist circles that all oppression based on gender, sex, race, etc. is just a byproduct of class struggle, and that once class disparity is solved, all those issues will vanish.”

• Salon goes deeper in Asad Haider’s How calling someone a “class reductionist” became a lefty insult. Specifically, it calls out the DSA Philadelphia Chapter statement on the murder of George Floyd by the Minneapolis Police. The DSA presented a very class-centric position: That the murder was a consequence of class oppression and that socialists such as the DSA were thus uniquely qualified to address the problem.

• You don’t have to be a Political Science Ph.D to notice that Floyd’s murder was a racist act that can only be understood in a racism-aware framework, and that omitting that dimension is clueless.

• On the other hand, ignoring the class dimension of oppression in general, racism in particular, and George Floyd’s murder in particular particular, would also be clueless. Mr Floyd was a man with a bunch of problems, but one of the biggest was that he was broke.

Hardware

• Memory bandwidth is holding back system performance, and there is something that you can do about it other than to just suffer.

• It is interesting to contemplate what HPC and AI computing might look like if CPUs were not so limited on memory bandwidth and in some cases memory capacity. Or to speak more precisely, if memory was not so expensive relative to compute. We can, perhaps, do something about the former and we will turn blue in the face and perhaps die waiting for something to happen about the latter, as we talked briefly about last week.

• Sometimes, all you can do is make a tourniquet and try to keep moving even if you can’t immediately and permanently address the problem at hand. Or foot or wherever the wound is. Which got us to thinking about how server buyers these days, with some modest tweaks from server CPU and system makers, might at least get the memory bandwidth per core more in balance.

Proprietary

• For Microsoft to cull the entire team behind MRTK, which was due to release a new version just next month, it paints a picture of a company that perhaps no longer believes in virtual reality. There are many who believe the “metaverse” represents the next big opportunity in human-computer interfacing, but even Facebook, who rebranded its entire company to Meta in the belief of this technology, is scaling back in this area as well — laying off 11,000 staff back in November.

• It brings to mind the original Surface — a $10,000 touchscreen table the company started selling in May 2007, only to eventually cede the entire touchscreen revolution in personal computing to Apple and Android.

Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

• You probably have already heard about ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that took over the world faster than a Skynet apocalypse.

Defence/Aggression

• In an attempt to grossly exaggerate China’s defense spending, and simultaneously downplay the US military budget, the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis published a jaw-droppingly deceptive graph.

• If a student presented this in a statistics 101 class, the teacher would likely give them an F. But because it involves Washington’s public enemy number one, Beijing, the US regional reserve bank was awarded a Golden Star for exemplary service in the New Cold War.

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• I’m doing an experiment. On my computer, I am checking the latest tweets by people I follow. On my phone, I’m checking whether their most recent tweets are showing up in the “Following” column. I’m just getting started, but even in the first dozen cases, Twitter failed to show me an absolute majority of the tweets I had requested to see. That’s the reason your engagement is down, people: Twitter is withholding requested content from those who requested it.

• For me, Twitter is most valuable as an information source. But Twitter is now rapidly mutating into a source that capriciously withholds information I asked for – including from such highly official sources as the Tate Gallery in London.

• It’s as if, in the days of the old newspaper, my subscription were delivered with random stories scissored out by the publisher itself, for some capricious whim of the publisher’s own.

• Twitter is no longer able to do that. Here’s a speculative thread explaining what might be going on — sounds like a very solid guess to me. In short: after cutting back on servers and entire data centers, Twitter can no longer keep up with its own content.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

• It’s time to explain, why I declare myself as a “soft-washed atheist”. This can be best described by two genius short stories.

Technical

Internet/Gemini

• Links are selected randomly from a list of known host from the lupa crawler[1]. The links are not manually curated and I’m not responsible of the content of these capsules. If some offensive capsules are listed here automatically, please alert me so I can manually remove them.

• Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Permalink  Send this to a friend

----------

➮ Sharing is caring. Content is available under CC-BY-SA.