● 07.23.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 23/07/2023: Debian 12.1 Coming

Posted in News Roundup at 7:45 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

• Linux computer company Juno Computers launched its first tablet last year. Now the company is back with a new model that has a bigger display, 50% more storage, and a few other improvements, including a detachable keyboard that’s now included with the price.

• The new Juno Tab 2 is up for pre-order for $525 and up, and the new tablet has an 11 inch display, 12GB of RAM, and support for several different GNU/Linux distributions. But it has the same Intel Celeron N5100 quad-core “Jasper Lake” processor as the original Juno Tablet (which is no longer in stock).

Audiocasts/Shows

Applications

• A console application is computer software which can be used with a text-only computer interface, the command line interface, or a text-based interface included within a graphical user interface operating system, such as a terminal emulator (such as GNOME Terminal or the aforementioned Terminator). Whereas a graphical user interface application generally involves using the mouse and keyboard (or touch control), with a console application the primary (and often only) input method is the keyboard. Many console applications are command line tools, but there is a wealth of software that has a text-based user interface making use of ncurses, a library which allow programmers to write text-based user interfaces.

• Console based applications are light on system resources (very useful on low specified machines), can be faster and more efficient than their graphical counterparts, they do not stop working when X is restarted, and are perfect for scripting purposes. When designed well, console applications offer a surprisingly improvement in productivity. The applications are leaner, faster, easier to maintain, and remove the need to have installed a whole raft of libraries.

• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts is a very famous quote from Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist. This quote is particularly pertinent to Linux. In my view, one of Linux’s biggest strengths is its synergy. The usefulness of Linux doesn’t derive only from the huge raft of open source (command line) utilities. Instead, it’s the synergy generated by using them together, sometimes in conjunction with larger applications.

• When it comes to virtualization, you should be familiar with QEMU and KVM. These technologies are critical in the creation and management of virtual machines (VMs), allowing organizations and individuals to leverage the potential of virtualization for a number of applications.

• But how can you determine which one is best for you? Let’s look at the distinctions between QEMU and KVM, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of both virtualization technologies.

• Things have moved on since we last covered screencasting software. The purpose of this article is to identify high quality open source screencasting software that makes it a breeze to create screencasts. Thanks to this software, anyone can make their own videos.

• To provide an insight into the quality of software that is available, we have compiled a list of 10 slick Linux screencasting tools. All of these tools are released under a freely distributable license.

• Available today, maintenance release 7.0.10 includes initial support for Linux Kernel 6.4, delivers the July 2023 Critical Patch Update (CPU) to address security vulnerabilities and includes different bug fixes for Linux, Windows and macOS.

Instructionals/Technical

• If you use Linux, you’ve most likely used ps, top, or htop to view currently running processes on the system. While these programs are useful, they don’t show the relationship of processes to each other.

• pstree is a program that visualizes Linux processes as a tree. Here’s how you can install and use it on Linux.

• Introduction: Linux customization offers endless opportunities to enhance our user experience, even through minor visual tweaks. One such customization involves changing the color of directory (DIR) entries. In this blog post, we’ll explore the art of transforming DIR colors using the powerful Vim editor in RHEL-9.2. Embark on a vibrant journey of exploration as we guide you through modifying the DIR_COLORS file, adding a splash of color to your Linux directory listings.

• It’s never fun when things go wrong while installing a new operating system. The “no root file system is defined” error is one of the most frustrating issues you can encounter while installing a Linux distro.

• Use the ‘time’ command in Linux to monitor and display the execution time of a command in real, user, and system time. Easily assess command performance and optimize your workflow

• To show the time of the command process in Linux, you can use the time command. Follow these step-by-step instructions:

• Step 1: Open the Terminal Open the Terminal on your Linux system. You can do this by searching for “Terminal” in the applications menu or using the keyboard shortcut (e.g., Ctrl+Alt+T).

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

• Kdenlive is an acronym for KDE Non-Linear Video Editor. It works on GNU/Linux, Windows and BSD. Through the MLT framework, Kdenlive integrates many plugin effects for video and sound processing or creation. Furthermore Kdenlive brings a powerful titling tool, a DVD authoring (menus) solution, and can then be used as a complete studio for video creation.

• Kdenlive supports all of the formats supported by FFmpeg or libav (such as QuickTime, AVI, WMV, MPEG, and Flash Video, among others), and also supports 4:3 and 16:9 aspect ratios for both PAL, NTSC and various HD standards, including HDV and AVCHD. Video can also be exported to DV devices, or written to a DVD with chapters and a simple menu.

Distributions and Operating Systems

Reviews

• PeppermintOS is a distribution based on Debian, but comes with a better customized Xfce desktop by default and a few nice additions on top of it. It uses a better installer, and offers a few additional helpful scripts after installation to further tweak the OS according to the user’s needs. In that regard, it can be said that it is Debian, but with better defaults.

• Still, there are some bugs and issues in the distribution in some places. And the developed tools by the devs are not really “software”; they are just a bunch of scripts to do certain tasks needed by the user inside a terminal. This is a far cry from Linux Mint tools for example, such as their control center or software manager or the +20 other programs developed by their team.

• However, it serves its target userbase well. If you want to try Debian with a good-looking Xfce desktop, and don’t want to deal with problems like “Your_username is not in the sudoers file” or waste time adding additional software repositories, then PeppermintOS is for you.

Slackware Family

• In a short note posted on Patreon last week, Volkerding said: “Once upon a time in the early days of Linux, after months of tinkering with a customised distribution and putting it online for beta testing, I got the crazy idea to call it stable and to post the announcement linked below starting Slackware on the path to where it is today.”

• Slackware is still used by a sizeable number who like doing things the old way. Other distributions, like Red Hat and Debian, have moved on, but Volkerding is still catering to his loyal band of users.

• On one occasion, Volkerding somewhat sarcastically responded to the marketing around version numbers — a tactic used mainly by Red Hat — and released version 7.0, after the previous version was 4.0.

Fedora Family / IBM

• The Linux political wars have been percolating for a month now, and depending on what side you belong to, the decision by Red Hat to restrict source code distribution for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) is either a business decision that needed to happen or an act of betrayal.

• The operating system brouhaha began with a June 21 posting from Mike McGrath, vice president of core platforms at Red Hat, regarding CentOS Stream, an open source development stream.

• CIQ, which builds software infrastructure for enterprises running workloads atop the Rocky Linux enterprise Linux distribution, announced today the launch of its CIQ Partner Program. The company said the launch reinforces CIQ’s partner-first channel strategy as the company aims to deliver its suite of solutions and services to organizations worldwide that desire stability, seamless compatibility and cost-effectiveness for their IT infrastructure and high-performance computing needs.

Debian Family

• Debian 12.1 arrives six weeks after the release of Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” to provide those who want to deploy the operating system on new hardware with up-to-date installation media where you won’t have to download hundreds of updates from the repositories after the installation.

• As such, Debian 12.1 includes all the security and software updates that have been released since June 10th, 2023, for the Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series. In numbers, the new ISO release includes a total of miscellaneous bug fixes for 89 packages and 26 security updates.

• So it’s there on Download on the Debian web site.

• Thanks to the folk who’ve done this point release testing. No new major bugs found: a couple of pre-existing ones may still be there.

• Thanks very much indeed to the new people who have been in IRC on debian-cd, downloading, testing, editing the wiki page.

• This release has gone very well indeed – I’ll see some of the same folk at the BBQ in late August but otherwise we’ll be back in September or so for the next point release for Bookworm (and probably a release for Bullseye as well).

Devices/Embedded

• The NanoPC-T6 is a single board computer based on the octa-core Rockchip RK3588 System-on-Chip. This SBC is equipped with interfaces including 2x HDMI output ports, 2x 2.5GbE for high-speed networking, 2x CSI connectors for camera integration and many other ports.

• Operating system support is extensive, including FriendlyWrt, Android 12 for tablet and TV, FriendlyCore Lite, Debian, and Ubuntu. Moreover, Armbian offers partial support for this board. For further information, refer to this GitHub repository.

• Boundary Devices launched this month an embedded platform developed in partnership with MediaTek. The device features an octa-core Arm Cortex CPU, an audio DSP, an Arm Mali-G57 GPU for 4k video codecs and 3.7 TOPS NPU for deep learning, computer vision, etc.

• For software development, Boundary Devices will provide support for FreeRTOS and for operating systems such as Android and Linux.

Open Hardware/Modding

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Programming/Development

• Developers often prefer Linux over other OSes due to the stability it offers. Here are some free-to-use code editors and IDEs you can use on Linux.

Perl / Raku

Leftovers

Science

Hardware

Health/Nutrition/Agriculture

Proprietary/Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• Blizzard has seen another pillar of the World of Warcraft team depart the studio. Technical Director Monte Krol announced his departure yesterday, after 22 years and nine months in operation on the MMORPG.

• It’s impossible to put down a tweet; I’m grateful for such an uncountable number of things, says Krol’s farewell. Thanks to the Blizz family. Stay great and drink great coffee. I have no Orc for me eternal.

Linux Foundation

• Explaining the reasons for why it was setting up, the UEC, a Joint Development Foundation project hosted by The Linux Foundation, observed that artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads were rapidly evolving and require best-in-class functionality, performance, interoperability and total cost of ownership, without sacrificing developer and end-user friendliness.

• Against this backdrop, The Linux Foundation’s FinOps.org hosted its FinOps X conference in San Diego in late June. Conference organizers made several announcements that aimed to guide FinOps discussions across organizations.

Security

• Microsoft’s David Weston, Vice President, Enterprise and OS Security, explained that a reason for adding Rust was to improve the security of the Windows 11 memory system as Rust is considered memory-safe and type-safe.

• As those trying to monitor and analyze the massive MOVEit breach are already aware, the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (“TIAA”) provided university faculty retirement benefits to a number of colleges and universities. The TIAA part of the breach was not a direct attack on the vendor’s systems. TIAA was notified by its vendor, Pension Benefit Information, that PBI had been affected by the breach.

• Buckingham County Public Schools in Virginia has sent notifications to parents of 86 students after a compromise of a district’s business email account.

• July 1st was a cybersecurity milestone for every New York attorney who now needs to complete an hour of cybersecurity training before renewing their law license. New York Courts in their role supervising and licensing attorneys recognize the importance of cybersecurity, and the threat of cybercrime.

• A coastal Mississippi county is in the process of recovering from a wide-ranging ransomware attack that took down nearly all of the government’s in-office computers.

• Nestled right along the border with Alabama, George County is the quiet home to more than 25,000 people. But the local government was thrown into chaos this weekend when ransomware actors used a discrete phishing email to gain deep access to the county’s systems.

• George County communications director Ken Flanagan told Recorded Future News in an interview that the situation “felt like a digital hurricane” after IT officials discovered the attack early on Saturday morning.

• VirusTotal today issued a mea culpa, saying a blunder earlier this week by one of its staff exposed information belonging to 5,600 customers, including the email addresses of US Cyber Command, FBI, and NSA employees.

• The unintentional leak was due to the layer-eight problem; human error. On June 29, an employee accidentally uploaded a .csv file of customer info to VirusTotal itself, said Emiliano Martinez, tech lead of the Google-owned malware analysis site.

• On June 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit overruled a district court’s dismissal of a putative class action against a home delivery pharmacy service for allegedly failing to prevent a 2021 data breach that exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of over 75,000 patients. The class action complaint alleged state law claims for negligence, breach of implied contract, unjust enrichment, invasion of privacy, and breach of fiduciary duty, and sought damages and injunctive relief. The putative class was comprised of U.S. residents whose PII was compromised in the data breach. The two named plaintiffs were former or current patients whose PII were compromised in the data breach, and one of the two named plaintiffs had her stolen PII used to file a fraudulent tax return. The district court dismissed the lawsuit for lack of Article III standing.

• “As a parent to two young children in a public school, I would be livid if I found out that their information had been scattered across the roadway for anybody to come across,” said Bethany Saavedra, a resident in Babcock Ranch.

• WINK News called a doctor listed on one of the documents. The doctor explained that the document was related to a physical he did for a student last year, required for school.

• He said that the parents of the child take the document to the school or health department.

• Saavedra described what she saw along the roads, “Thousands. Yeah. Over 1000. Easily. They were scattered for a quarter of a mile from the intersection back that way.”

• An email containing the names of vulnerable children was mistakenly sent to other parents and guardians, prompting an apology from Te Whatu Ora Southern.

• Dozens of parents and guardians received the email on Tuesday from the Vera Haywood Centre, a child development team based at Dunedin Hospital.

• That email invited recipients to a paediatric seminar, but was intended as an internal email for staff only.

• Container images, that is. Chainguard Enforce now automates SBOMs, but execs and an early customer say they aren’t the ultimate answer to software supply chain security.

• Ransomware has evolved from a malicious floppy disk demanding $189 in ransom to a multibillion-dollar industry with ransom for rent, sophisticated techniques and big-name victims.

Privacy/Surveillance

Environment

Energy/Transportation

Finance

AstroTurf/Lobbying/Politics

• Elon Musk said on Sunday he was looking to change Twitter’s logo, tweeting: “And soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds”.

• In a post on the site at 12:06 a.m. ET (0406 GMT), the social media platform’s billionaire owner added: “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make (it) go live worldwide tomorrow.”

Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda

• Since its launch on July 5, Meta’s Threads has surpassed 100 million users, including far-right figures and extremists, and the platform quickly became rife with harmful content as Meta carved out exceptions to its community guidelines.

• As Media Matters previously reported, Meta launched Threads without the fact-checking program that aims to prevent the spread of misinformation on Facebook and Instagram and seemingly abandoned hate speech policies. The company even succumbed to complaints from right-wing users such as Ian Miles Cheong and Donald Trump Jr., dropping warning labels the platform initially placed on accounts with a history of spreading misinformation and restoring a post from anti-LGBTQ social media account Libs of TikTok that was previously removed as hate speech.

Censorship/Free Speech

Civil Rights/Policing

• Taking this step would benefit both the migrants themselves and the American economy. It would also eliminate burdens on local governments.

• Countries in Eastern Europe continue to oppose the European Union migrant quotas. But despite their anti-immigration rhetoric, skilled migration from non-EU countries is growing.

• A “hold-the-line” operation has created tensions with federal agents who warn it could lead to more drownings. Officers ordered to carry out the measures are raising alarms.

• Migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong who complained of being overcharged by agents faced an average fee of over HK$19,000, a union federation has found.

• Amnesty International condemned a recent migration agreement between the EU and Tunisia on Monday. Amnesty International claimed that the agreement makes the EU “complicit in the suffering that will inevitably result” in what represents a “dangerous expansion” of failed migration policies.

• The UK’s Illegal Migration Bill is set to become law as of Tuesday, with the House of Lords backing down on a series of amendments.

• A representative of the Polisario Liberation Front said the illegal agreement on fishing and agriculture has led to the installation of Moroccan settlers in the territories of Western Sahara. This has forced the Saharawi population to abandon “their homes, their better lands, and their jobs, forced into unemployment, crime, or emigration.”

• After the deadliest shipwreck in years in the Mediterranean, E.U. officials will pay Tunisia to prevent migrants from setting to sea.

• “Today, we urgently need a collective agreement on the issue of inhumane immigration”

• “…during the rescue operation, a person threatened the agents with a meat cleaver…”

• A tiny village is taking in 6,000 laborers from Asia. They are needed by a petroleum company controlled by the right-wing government, which has vowed to keep migrants out.

Internet Policy/Net Neutrality

Monopolies

Patents

Trademarks

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