Here is my review of Trisquel 9.0 Etiona the newly released computer operating system. It is the successor of Flidas and now based on Ubuntu 18.04. It brings the latest improvements by excellently keeping its user friendliness from the family of most secure operating systems on earth. As always, I choose the Regular Edition, with MATE Desktop choice, to report this to you. We will see what’s new in this release and why I call it Software Freedom Vehicle now continuing Successful Freedom in the past. With Etiona, everyone can see that Free Software as well as copyleft are already practical and now we can see that even clearer than before. Let's go!
(The Freedom Vehicle)
Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.About Trisquel 9
Nine released last year on October 16th or two years after Eight released. Codenamed Etiona, it is now the successor of the fifteen years living of the completely free software operating system Trisquel GNU/Linux. If Eight was based on Ubuntu Xenial, now Nine is based on Bionic continuing tradition to follow Ubuntu Long Term Support editions as basis, while in reality the latest Ubuntu LTS is already Focal Fossa. For this version, Trisquel presents 4 editions --while preserving both 32 and 64 bit supports-- namely Trisquel Regular (MATE), Triskel (KDE) and this is new, Trisquel Mini (LXDE), and Trisquel Sugar. Nine is available for everyone to download at https://trisquel.info or purchase as personal computers at Respects Your Freedom.


(Nine showing its own system details on right side and Add/Remove Applications [trisquel-app-install] on left side)

Programs included in this version are in general MATE Desktop 1.20, Abrowser 81, Icedove Email Client 68, LibreOffice 6, GIMP 2.8, GNU Jami (instant messenger) 2020, Linux-libre kernel 4.15, GNU Bash 4.4, GPG 2.2, Synaptic Package Manager 0.84, Python version 2 and 3, LightDM 1.26, Xorg 7.7, Back In Time (backup tool) 1.1.2, Electrum Bitcoin Wallet, PDF Shuffler (split and merge tool), and without snapd nor flatpak. Names marked bold are the newly added ones!

1. Hardware
Fortunately, in this ninth version we see more mass productions of Trisquel laptops. By it I mean now there are vendors who ship laptops prebuilt with Trisquel worldwide from both Europe and United States. More than that, we acknowledge Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certifications for several laptops which are guaranteed to be working perfectly with Trisquel! This is a great win in hardware front we badly need for GNU/Linux since years. What I mean is, we really need GNU operating systems to be mass produced (just like Windows) so free software will become a norm in the world (instead of nonfree software) and we now see the realization with Trisquel. You can buy such laptops from RYF.

(Laptops with Trisquel preloaded)
Hardware used for this review is my ThinkPad T430: Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, Intel HD graphics, Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6250 wifi, 20GB hard disk partition with EXT4 filesystem.
As I do not purchase an RYF but already had one laptop, I installed Trisquel Etiona on it. And based on my observation, I can report this list of working and not working hardware of my ThinkPad T430:

• CPU: ok
• GPU: ok
• RAM: ok
• Sound: ok
• LAN: ok
• HDD: ok
• DVDROM: ok 
• Webcam: ok
• Microphone: ok
  
• Bluetooth: not working
• Wifi: not working

 
If you read GNU FSDG carefully, you will understand that hardware not working with Trisquel is hardware that requires nonfree software -- in other words, you already bought that but it's still completely owned by the manufacturer. So, my bluetooth and wifi are not working on Trisquel 9 because they are nonfree hardware. From software freedom point of view, this is good, as this protects me as the user from surrendering my freedom. 
Note: if we want to buy device replacements that work with Trisquel, like bluetooth or wifi, we can find plenty information at h-node.org aside from RYF too.

2. Daily Purpose & Connectivity

Accessing files and folders, making documents, connecting to the internet, all work well with Trisquel. If you don’t find your laptop wifi working, as a temporary solution use your USB Tethering from smartphone or mifi, so you can connect to the internet. 
(Trisquel 9 appearance)

For the desktop, by default Super key (Windows key) is not usable so you use mouse click to open start menu every time. However, if you change the start menu applet into Advanced Mate Menu, then you can use Super key just like me. (As you may know I am accustomed to KDE so this is big plus to me.)

In this version, Trisquel includes GNU Jami. It is a complete messenger like Telegram, but serverless, and already includes video call feature. Previously called Ring, it is a High Priority Project by the Free Software Foundation that falls into category of telephony (Real-time voice and video chat). As far as I know, Trisquel is the first OS to include it out of the box (ever see a distro includes Telegram or Signal by default?).  This is actually what makes me excited to try Etiona at first time. And after I tried Jami on it, I feel it is incredible, the video call is amazing. This means Trisquel is one step ahead in promoting software freedom by promoting its fellow free messenger.
(Connectivity between my Trisquel laptop and a phone: two ways video call with Jami including file sharing and share screen abilities)

3. Graphics Purpose
Photo editing, drawing, and making animations work with Trisquel Nine.

(Graphic editing programs even the 3D ones work well! Oh, yeah, and illustration drawing works too  like making educational posters.)

There’s professional applications namely GIMP (like Photoshop), Inkscape (like CorelDRAW), Scribus (like PageMaker), and Synfig (like Macromedia Flash MX) as well as Blender (like 3D Max), FreeCAD (like AutoCAD), and on the above I show you Sweet Home 3D (like SketchUp but for interiors) displaying rooms and furniture design viewed from aerial view as well as my two illustration design works from last year (see here and see also here).


4. Educational Purpose
Trisquel itself is an education vehicle – it is an important part of teaching that all computer users should have their software freedom. By version nine, Trisquel conveys this teaching to the world. It truly demonstrates you a computing is possible with completely free – without proprietary parts – kernel, repository, and built-in applications plus you can bring it home. Most distros cannot exercise this as many of them in fact still include nonfree software. As a consequences of this software freedom, Trisquel is guaranteed to be free from virus (malware) as well. If we consider most shallow reason, unlike Windows or macOS, Trisquel helps schools to save money as it is completely gratis along with all software it gives. In this regards, Trisquel proves the teaching that education should exclusively use free software. For the sake of practical example, here's my online teaching activities done with Trisquel. As some of you might know, I use Telegram and Jitsi to make remote classes with my people in Indonesia. (An online classroom on Jitsi)

Above is my student showing his Kubuntu desktop to me via video call (it is called share screen) when I was using Trisquel. We communicate via voice call and I continuously give him instructions to do while I watch everything he does on screen, whenever a mistake happens I can immediately correct it. The technology you see on that picture is called Jitsi.

(An online classroom on Telegram)

And above is a voice group call between my students and me. I want to talk to them again after a while we didn't meet. This conference was held right after Telegram announced this long awaited feature, voice group, which enables me to call multiple students at once. We discuss about computing, Free Software, and GNU/Linux as usual at that moment just like usually we do. As a teacher, I feel everything goes smoothly!

5. Amusement Purpose
Gaming, audio playback, and watching movie all work well with Trisquel Nine. Yes! Trisquel can play MP3 as well as MP4 too thanks to VLC Media Player. Perhaps, some of you thought that a completely free OS can not play nonfree formats like mp3 or mp4, right? In fact, Trisquel plays both just fine. The software to play both are free so it includes them without problem. That’s among the basic features Trisquel has. (Browser playing flawlessly a latest video by the FSF "Fight to Repair" | Playing mp4 and mp3 flawlessly: one is The Alps Top Ten video and another one is Ubuntu from Wikipedia read out loud as audio | Playing Mahjongg game among other built-in games | Notice that to save space, the Trisquel panel can be switched vertical at left) Above is Mines and Mahjongg games as well as a playback of a streaming video. Available in the repository more video games such as Age of Empires-like 0 A.D., Counter Strike-like OpenArena, Diablo-like Flare RPG, and Crash Team Racing-like Super Tux Kart. More apps and games can be added if you wish (and you can explore thousands!) from the Add/Remove Applications.

6. Shortcomings

From people-who-install-os' perspective, especially for people-who-don't-have-compatible-hardware, Trisquel does not work with most wifi chips such as Broadcom BCM4313 or Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6205 (both are mine). If you fall into this category of people, you will find Trisquel 9 not satisfying as your wifi won't work. (Note: mine is not working too, but I am prepared about this and connect using my mifi's USB tethering instead.) 

Speaking about graphics, I found only a little --non significant-- glitch on my ThinkPad when I enabled Marco compositor that is drop shadow of context menu not rendered properly. 

Lastly, speaking about convenience, I think many programs are not friendly with window resizing, as some can be resized to be so tiny while others can't (mostly are GNOME apps). For example, below I can shrink Viewnior and Caja windows but no matter how much I resize them, I cannot make both GNOME's Mahjongg and Mines windows as tiny as them, so this hinder me to make beautiful screenshot with all of them on one screen. This is less convenient to me, as I feel it decreases desktop harmony for the user.

Conclusions 

Trisquel 9 is:

• already empower real computers (RYF) and shipped worldwide,
  
• available for 32 bit and 64 bit,
• available in KDE edition aside from Regular MATE, Mini LXDE, and Sugar Kids edition,
  
• can be installed in both bios legacy and uefi modes,
• includes HPP's telephony GNU Jami (so it is friendlier with phones),
• includes all necessary applications and give abilities to get more, and
  
• supports education as its slogan says!
  

 So congratulations Trisquel Developers! Once again you reach a success in software freedom and now Trisquel became freedom vehicle that is ready to bring to schools, universities, governments as well as individual computer users. I encourage you all dear readers to try Trisquel 9. Please share this to your friend!
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Recently, people got awareness to leave popular proprietary software WhatsApp. We even saw # Delete Whatsapp hashtags on social networks. For Ubuntu users who want to switch away from it here's alternatives, namely Telegram and Element, which are free and easy, and available for Ubuntu too. Fortunately, today both are also available for users who use Debian, Mint GNU/Linux, and other Ubuntu-family computers. For Android users, both are already available at F-Droid. They are Free Libre Open Source Software also known as FLOSS. We hope these will always be friendly and useful for us forever. Please share this with your friends!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.Telegram

A full featured social media platform that is the most user friendly and convenient. Telegram has desktop (GNU GPL), phone (F-Droid), and web versions too. It supports GNU/Linux, Windows, and macOS as well as Android and iOS. You will find you and family switching easier to Telegram than any other alternative. It permits seamless multi device. Requires phone number. Its official website is https://telegram.org.

Download: Telegram Desktop | Telegram Android | Telegram iOS | Telegram Web

Element

A full featured social media platform too. Today Element (formerly called Riot.im) already has video & voice conferences features aside from file sharing. Available for desktop, phone, and web too. It supports all OSes Telegram does support (mentioned above). Special feature is, it is bigger than any other messengers, as it gives the user also the server software (e.g. for companies to create their own messenger without reliance to third party). Does not require phone number. Its official website is https://element.io.

Download: Element Desktop | Android | iOS | Web | Server Version

How To Install

As stated above, Telegram is already available in Ubuntu's repository while Element is available for Ubuntu. Here's quick guide to install both so your PC and laptop got these friendly messengers.

Telegram Desktop:

$ sudo apt-get install telegram-desktop

Element Desktop:
Follow official guide or much more simpler get unofficial AppImage.

Learn More

How To Delete Your WhatsApp Account (AndroidCentral)

Intro to Element/Matrix (Ubuntu Buzz) 

Privacy Tools, PRISM Break, and Secure Messengers (more alternatives)

Signal  (another free & secure messenger, now praised worldwide)

Help Quit GitHub (similar post to this but about code hosting)

Enjoy sharing once again!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Here's simple command line guide for you computer user who find Ubuntu GNU/Linux for the first time. These commands are all built-in, you do not need to add anything to use them. They are useful to you, for instance, to read your complete computer information and of course to know about basic commands. Why learn commands? Because commands are fast as you will learn below. You will also see further references to learn more at the end of this article. Have fun learning!

(Welcome to friendly computing! We hope the commands are fre)
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Summary

• uname 
• lsb_release
• lsblk
• lshw
• lsusb
• sleep

 

How To Play

• Find a program named Terminal (or Console) from start menu.
• Type a command and press Enter to execute it.
• If asked for your password, type anyway and press Enter, no stars will be displayed. 
• Something like master@master:~$ is called shell prompt.
  
• Press TAB to automatically complete file name.
  
• Close Terminal if your tasks finished.

 

Uname command

$ uname -a

This will give you output similar to mine like below:

Linux master 5.8.0-25-generic #26-Ubuntu SMP Thu Oct 15 10:30:38 UTC 2020 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

That means our kernel is Linux, operating system is GNU/Linux, and x86_64 code means we use 64 bit computer while i686 means we use 32 bit ones instead.

LSB Command

$ lsb_release -a

This will give you output similar to mine too:

master@master:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu 20.10
Release: 20.10
Codename: groovy
master@master:~$

That means my operating system is Ubuntu version 20.10 codenamed groovy.

Lsblk Command

$ lsblk

This will give you details of your hard disk drive like mine:

master@master:~$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
sda 8:0 0 298,1G 0 disk
├─sda1 8:1 0 97,7G 0 part
├─sda2 8:2 0 178,8G 0 part
├─sda4 8:4 0 1K 0 part
├─sda5 8:5 0 1,5G 0 part
└─sda6 8:6 0 19,5G 0 part
sdb 8:16 1 14,3G 0 disk
├─sdb1 8:17 1 95M 0 part /boot/efi
├─sdb2 8:18 1 955M 0 part [SWAP]
└─sdb3 8:19 1 13,3G 0 part /
sr0 11:0 1 1024M 0 rom
master@master:~$

That output of mine means there are two hard disk drives I currently use, sda and sdb, and my Ubuntu partition is under sdb named sdb3. We know this from where the slash ( / ) is located. From my output we also know that my sda hard disk is 300GiB, where my sdb is only 14GiB, we know these from the SIZE column. You just need to understand yours like mine. Starting today, you will be accustomed to these names, sda sdb sdc ... , to call hard disk drives. It is similar to C, D, E, ... if you know Microsoft Windows partition names.

Tip: Lsblk is a short for list block devices (storages)

Look closer, you will see a strange device named sr0. That is my dvd-rom as this laptop Lenovo ThinkPad has one.

Lshw Command

$ lshw -short

This will give you details of your computer hardware like mine:

master@master:~$ lshw -short
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
H/W path Device Class Description
=========================================================
system Computer
/0 bus Motherboard
/0/0 memory 4GiB System memory
/0/1 processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3320M CPU
/0/100 bridge 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Co
/0/100/2 display 3rd Gen Core processor Graphic
/0/100/14 bus 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset F
/0/100/16 communication 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family M
/0/100/16.3 communication 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset F
/0/100/19 enp0s25 network 82579LM Gigabit Network Connec
/0/100/1a bus 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family U
/0/100/1b multimedia 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family H
/0/100/1c bridge 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family P
/0/100/1c/0 generic MMC/SD Host Controller
/0/100/1c.1 bridge 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset F
/0/100/1c.1/0 wlp3s0 network Centrino Advanced-N 6205 [Tayl
/0/100/1c.2 bridge 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset F
/0/100/1d bus 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family U
/0/100/1f bridge QM77 Express Chipset LPC Contr
/0/100/1f.2 scsi1 storage 7 Series Chipset Family 4-port
/0/100/1f.2/0.0.0 /dev/cdrom disk DVD+-RW GT32N
/0/100/1f.3 bus 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family S
/0/100/1f.5 storage 7 Series Chipset Family 2-port
/0/2 system PnP device PNP0c01
/0/3 system PnP device PNP0c02
/0/4 system PnP device PNP0b00
/0/5 input PnP device PNP0303
/0/6 generic PnP device LEN0015
/1 scsi4 storage
WARNING: output may be incomplete or inaccurate, you should run this program as super-user.
master@master:~$

This output is rather long for first timer. But, you can just read the CPU, RAM, and GPU for starter. From my output, we know that my processor is Intel Core i5, my memory is 4GB, and my video graphic adapter is Intel HD Graphics. Again, you just need to understand yours like mine.

Tip: Lshw is a short for list hardware. 

You must noticed the warning so that you run this command as super user. To do so, edit above command like this:

$ sudo lshw -short Lsusb Command

$ lsusb

This will give you information what USB devices being used like mine:

master@master:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 04f2:b221 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd integrated camera
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0a5c:21e6 Broadcom Corp. BCM20702 Bluetooth 4.0 [ThinkPad]
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0781:5567 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Blade
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c077 Logitech, Inc. M105 Optical Mouse
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
master@master:~$

This output of mine means I have at least one SanDisk USB drive and one Logitech mouse among other attached USB devices. 

You can play with this! Do it once and then try to remove an attached USB, such as flash drive, and do it once again, see the difference. You will eventually be able to notice the information particular to a device! In the past, this command was truly useful to use USB modems.

Sleep Command

$ uname -a; sleep 2; lsb_release -a; sleep 2; lsblk; sleep 2; lshw -short; sleep 2;

This will do four of above commands at once, but not so fast, they do with delay time 2 seconds each. 

So now you know what sleep is here, right? Yes, that is the delay command. So you understand what 2 means too, right? Right, that is the two seconds. And now you see what semicolon ( ; ) means, right? Correct, it is to combine several commands at once in one line (it saves you Enter keystroke!). You can play too with this! Try to combine all commands with 5 seconds delay instead.

A Little Understanding

Did you notice the shell prompt? A shell prompt, as mentioned beforehand, is a sign that a terminal is ready, is doing something, or is finished doing something. It is ready by a blinking cursor - waiting you to type. It is working by displaying outputs instead and will be appear again once the outputs finished. It is finished by being ready. My shell prompt is different to yours, perhaps, because our usernames are different, and our computer names too. To understand it, feel free to see below explanation.

master@master:~$

• master - my username is master. 
• @ - a sign to link between a user and a computer.
• master - my computer name is also master. Please do not be confused, o dear readers.
• : - sign to begin address.
• ~ - an address sign, will change automatically once I changed directory, and change back to ~ if I go to my Home directory.
• $ - authority sign, dollar ( $ ) means I logged in as normal user (without authority), while hash ( # ) means I logged in as super user (admin, user with full authority, also known as root user).

 

Learn More

Finally, you should not end up here. To learn further, here's our beginners guide to command lines in seven parts. These are written based on my computer course books in Indonesian.

Part 1 Navigation

Part 2 Copy & Delete

Part 3 Combination

Part 4 Editing

Part 5 Reading Manuals

Part 6 Software Installation

Part 7 Third Party Repository 

Enjoy your learning!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

This is the traditional beginner's guide for you who have his/her Kubuntu computer updated, this time, to the version 20.10 codenamed Groovy Gorilla. In this version several new things added such as the Network Speed widget and the ability to have Metered Connections you can adjust with this short tutorial. Okay, now let's explore!

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Take Care of KWallet & Wifis

First thing to do for many people is to connect to the internet. Connected at the first time, special to Kubuntu, you will be asked for (1) inserting the wifi's password and (2) making a new KDE Wallet's password. For the wifi's password, once you typed it and press Connect, the KDE Wallet will appear. Do not worry, you just need to create a password and repeat it once, and then select Blowfish encryption option. I suggest you to use same password as your system password. After this, you can connect to that wifi safely without entering password again.

(KDE Wallet initial settings dialog)

Set Metered Connection

In short words, it is to save your internet quota. For every network you will connect to, you can set metered to it, so Kubuntu will not download big updates automatically (rather, you will do that manually). To do so, focus on Network Manager: connect to a connection (wifi or cable) > click Settings button > select the connection name > General Configuration > set Metered: Yes > OK > disconnect > connect again. 

(See the cursor: the configuration for my own 'XLGO' wifi connection)

Add Network Speed Widget

As always with Kubuntu, we can add network widget, but in this 20.10 version it is improved so perhaps you will find it different. It is now merged with some other widgets so the configuration is mixed up. To show current speed, click the chart.

To make a widget like below:

• Create a new empty panel
• Add Widget
• Find Network Speed
• Drag and drop widget to empty panel
• Edit panel
• Adjust the length to suit your taste
• Still on the Edit panel mode, select Autohide or Windows Go Below, which one you like more.
  

(Creating network speed widget on top of screen)

Disable Screen Edge

You saw animation when pushing cursor to top-left corner? Perhaps it doesn't help you productivity so you may want to disable it. To do so, go to System Settings > find Screen Edges > you see 8 points on screen picture > click the top-left point > No Action > OK. This disables the automatic animation. Feel free to test it!

(Screen Edges configuration)

Add Photo Frame

You can display photos on desktop thanks to Frame widget. It is useful also for teaching, for example, so your students always see important messages you want to convey when you do screen sharing or class presentation. To add one, right-click on desktop > Add Widget > find Frame > drag and drop it to desktop > a blank frame created > click Configure button on it > Path > Add Files > add photos as you wish > OK > finished.

For other widgets such as analog clock, the procedure is the same.

(Photo display widget)
Application Recommendations
To close this list, here's my usual apps to install on Kubuntu you can try:

• KeePassXC - password manager everyone should have.
• AQEMU - virtual machine that is free and user friendly. 
• uBlock Origin + HTTPS Everywhere - install this to your Firefox web browser to block ads and secure every single one of your connections. 

That's all. I wish Covid-19 pandemic soon will end and we will enjoy safety and healthiness once again. I hope you are happy with Kubuntu! 

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

You might have been familiar with being blocked to visit Wikipedia or Reddit or such sites in your country. That means your network, DNS path in particular, is not secure. If you can make it secure, you can visit that sites just like other sites normally. You can do that with the previous DNSCrypt Guide or fortunately these days it is even more simpler, enable Dns Over Https (DoH) on your web browser. This simple guide is applicable to Ubuntu, Mint, Trisquel (Abrowser), PureOS (PureBrowser), and any other GNU/Linux systems. Now let's go secure!

 

(Visiting Reddit.com/Ubuntu social media discussion with DoH)

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Before and After

In my country, Reddit is blocked. That means for me I will never be able to visit that site unless I protect my network, DNS path in particular, with encryption. This way no third-party should be able to block or redirect my browsing anymore. After enabling DOH, magically I can visit Reddit normally. This gives me same result but with easier setup as DNSCrypt. No rebooting the computer, no closing the browser.

Before:

Failed to visit Reddit.com

After:

Successfully visit Reddit.com

SettingsRun Firefox (Ubuntu, Mint, others). Run Abrowser if you use Trisquel. Run PureBrowser if you use PureOS. Either one, the configurations are the same as below:

• Go to Preferences.
• Search for DoH.
• Found in the Network section.
• Scroll down until you find Enable DNS Over HTTPS.
• Enable it. You see the provider is Cloudflare by default.
• OK. 
• Start browsing!

  (DoH settings in Firefox)

That's all. I hope this is useful for you.
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Here's my own Open Street Map's basic guide for everybody. To start using OSM, go to MapQuest.com and we will show you the rest. Happy traveling!

 (Open Street Map with all locations including China, India, Japan, Thailand and everything else written in Latin English)
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What OSM Can Do?

1. View world map
2. View a country
3. View a specific location (state, city, etc.)
4. Navigation (zoom, pan)
   
5. Satellite view
6. Directions
7. Share
   

And many more beyond this intro article!

About OpenStreetMap

OSM is officially located at https://openstreetmap.org. It is an open service everyone from any other website can use. In the nutshell, it is actually a software, that is free, so everyone can put in their own server (if they have one) to make their own Google Maps alternative. OSM is a proud community product by Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) society worldwide just like Wikipedia where everyone can edit its content. Why MapQuest? Because MapQuest (a version of OSM) is easier to read than the original. It displays all cities with latin alphabet instead of local ones (العربية, 日本語, ไทย, etc.).

 

1. View World Map

• Go to MapQuest.
• By default we will see a certain country e.g. United States.
• Click minus (-) button to zoom out until you see...
  
• World map viewed.

2. View a Country

• Go to MapQuest.
• Drag the map to go to a country you know, or,
• Type country name on the left panel and press Enter,
• Country viewed.
  

 

3. View a Specific Location

• Go to MapQuest.
• Drag the map to a city, region, state, or any other specific location you know, or...
• Type the city name in the left panel and press Enter,
• City viewed.

4. Navigation

Navigation served as vertically-sorted buttons on right:

• Arrows: move (pan) your position.
• Center black button: reset map.
• Plus button: zoom in.
• Minus button: zoom out.
• Find me: go to your position (if your location tracker is on).
• Satellite view: switch map to the real photographic version.
• Traffic: enable special features such as live webcam on roads (e.g. at Washington DC).
• Share: share link or embed code of current viewed map.
• Print: print the map or save as PDF.
  

5. Satellite view

 

• Click Satellite button and map switched to real photographic version.
  
• Click same button to revert back to normal map.
  

6. DirectionsOpen Street Map can help you find shortest route to a city. Use Directions feature for that:

• Go to MapQuest.
• Click Directions button (the green one). 
• First, find a city.
• Then, find a destination city.
• Click Get Directions, and...
• Routes to that destination appeared with distinct line colors.
• Tip: click each route line to see the distance.

7. Share

Let me share with you. Below is Jakarta, Capital of Indonesia live from Open Street Map. This map is live, you can drag it, move it, zoom it as you wish. You can make a map like this on your website by sharing the embed code. Simpler than this, I can also give you just the link (mapq.st/38dRV54). How to do that?

To share a map link:

• Go to MapQuest.org and find a city you want.
• Click Share button.
• A popup appears with several information.
• Copy the link. 
• Share the link with your friends.
  
  

To embed a map in your web page:

• After clicking the Share button,
• Click Embed button.
• Copy the html code at bottom.
• Paste the code in your website page as html.
  
• Publish your page.

Afterword

Now you have a user friendly online map. It is free software, respects you privacy (e.g. not by Google), from the proud FLOSS community, everyone can edit, and more importantly everyone can use easily. I believe your first journey with MapQuest will be easy. Finally, you can read the documentation on MapQuest itself and of course on Open Street Map in general. I wish this intro is useful for you. Now let's explore more!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Here's five useful apps for Trisquel 9 Etiona you may want to know. Their functionalities are among Android pairing (you have a phone, right?), communication, virtual machine, easy password manager, and education so those can help you in daily computing. You can add them simply by using Synaptic Package Manager from the start menu. Okay, now let's check them out!

(You can make Trisquel 9 does a friendly video call with your phone!)

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.

 

Summary

    • Syncthing
    • Jami
    • Aqemu
    • KeePassXC
    • Stardict

Syncthing – Phone-Desktop File Sharing

Main article: Syncthing GuideYou might loved KDE Connect (like me) which successfully integrated Kubuntu computers with Android phones for many users. Not only that, even Mint Ulyana now includes Warpinator for same purpose. However, Etiona includes no such app. To achieve same ability with that, you can add Syncthing, a free software which is able to help you share files between your Trisquel computer and Android phone. Once installed, it does not exist on start menu but you must run it either from Terminal or simply from Alt+F2 then Abrowser will automatically show you the web user interface.

(Syncthing is a decent alternative to KDE Connect on Trisquel MATE | Picture: laptop is sharing files with a phone via user directory /home/master/Sync)

Jami – Telephony & Video Call

Main article: Trying GNU Jami

You might loved Skype or WhatsApp for telephony and video calls. However, Trisquel does not provide those nonfree software. Instead, Etiona gracefully brings the alternative, Jami, which is a user friendly video telephony with groups and conferences features. Unlike other solutions, uniquely Jami is serverless and phone-numberless. You find Jami under start menu > Internet > Jami with a blue icon.

(Left: Jami phone doing screen sharing as well as main camera broadcast | Right: Jami desktop doing screen sharing too by recording the session)

Aqemu – Virtual Machine

Main article: Aqemu GuideYou might loved how user friendly VirtualBox was or perhaps you liked VMWare more. However, Trisquel does not provide both software (which are considered nonfree). Instead, you can add the alternative, Aqemu, which is as user friendly as VB as we all knew. Once installed, you find Aqemu with a blue icon on the start menu.

 (Aqemu: Trisquel has its own user friendly VM that just works magically)

KeePassXC – Password Manager

Main article: KeePassXC GuideYou might be tired with remembering many passwords or feel restricted to create new accounts. That is because you do not use a password manager. Now you know the solution, just add KeePassXC, and use it properly to store your login secrets and also create new accounts with ease – because only you can open this application.

(KeePassXC example: my login secrets are easy enough to understand, right?)

StarDict – Dictionary on Computer

Main article: QStarDict HowtoEducation at schools and universities is one of main purpose of Trisquel. For that reason, you can add one of the most important tools, StarDict, a dictionary to help students learn foreign language word by word. For example, in my country as I maintain a computer course, Indonesian students can learn English by clicking every word and the Indonesian translation appears on screen (and also reversely from Indonesian to English), without internet access. StarDict can also speak out loud English words so students may learn to pronounce word by word too! Fortunately, StarDict is a flexible tool so you as a teacher can add other languages (Deutsch, Spanish available) or simply create a new dictionary by yourself.

 

About Trisquel 9
Trisquel is a completely free computer operating system originated from Spain. Everyone can get Trisquel freely, gratis and with software freedom, by downloading from www.trisquel.info or just purchasing a Trisquel laptop from from Respects Your Freedom shops. Trisquel initially released 2005, and routinely releases by following its base, Ubuntu, a UK-originated operating system, and its 9th release has been released in 2020 with given name Etiona based on the solid long term supported Ubuntu Bionic. Trisquel 9 LTS Etiona is available in four editions namely Regular (MATE), Triskel (KDE), Mini (LXDE), and Education (Sugar). Aside from that, it supports both 32 and 64 bit Personal Computer architectures. Trisquel is one of GNU/Linux family in particular and part of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) in general; so everyone is invited to join the development by contributing or help fund it by donating.

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

This article shows how to boot a T430 laptop in BIOS (Legacy) and UEFI mode with Ubuntu operating systems. Thus, you will be able to boot either a hard disk, a solid state drive, or a USB flash to install such OS. Setups mentioned in this article are useful to help you install Ubuntu in modern standard UEFI-boot, GPT-partitioned, even in a 16GB USB mass storage. Now, let's learn!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.

Legend

• F1 = enter BIOS.
• Enter = execute command.
• Esc = cancel selection / command.
  
• Arrows = switch selection.
  
• F10 = save and exit BIOS.
• F12 = enter Boot Options.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del = restart.
  

 

ThinkPad Boot Screen

When initialized, a ThinkPad laptop normally shows screen like below while saying you can press a certain key, Enter here, to access more options including BIOS. On T430, the wording is "To interrupt normal startup, press Enter". This boot screen always appears every time you start your laptop. If you do not see this boot screen, or if there is a delay by an unusual long time, then it is a sign that there is something wrong with your laptop.

Enter BIOS

Press F1 key to enter ThinkPad's BIOS. Unlike some other brands / models, with ThinkPad you can start BIOS by doing press hold F1 and then pressing power button without repeatedly pressing that key. Below is picture of a BIOS that displays basic information of a Lenovo ThinkPad T430. To read the information, for example, this laptop is using CPU: Intel Core i5, memory: 4 GB, and BIOS version: G1ETxxxx released by 2012.

Navigation

Press left-down-right-up (arrow) keys to move selection. Press Enter key to choose or execute a selection. Press plus / minus key to change value, for example, to move a hard disk down and a USB up in the boot priority. Press TAB to change between tabs in the Boot Options (the F12) when booting without entering BIOS.

Save and Restart

Press F10 key to save all changes made in BIOS and restart automatically after that. You will do this often.

 

Boot Device Selection 

Press F12 keys when startup to enter Boot Options menu instead of BIOS. This displays list of boot devices which you can select and boot. This is the quick access to boot either a CD, USB, an external HDD, a secondary disk drive in the same laptop, or anything else as long as it is recognized already by the BIOS. Picture below shows a T430 showing a "ubuntu" boot option (1st), DVDROM (2nd), HDD (3rd), and LAN (4th).

Enable BIOS Legacy Mode

Set UEFI/Legacy Boot to [Legacy Only] under BIOS > StartUp if you want to install or livecd an Ubuntu operating system in BIOS mode. The word "legacy" is the same as "BIOS" in the sense of technology mode for OS installation. Picture below shows a T430 with Legacy Only set so this laptop can only boot a HDD, or an SSD, or a CD, or a USB that is bootable or installed with Ubuntu operating system in BIOS mode. Most people will still need this mode greatly for example to install a 32 bit GNU/Linux distro.

Enable UEFI Mode

Set UEFI/Legacy Boot to [UEFI Only] in the same place of above if you want to install or livecd in UEFI mode instead. This is what you need mostly when you want a dualboot install with Windows 8 up to 10, or when your hard disk drive is GPT-partitioned.

Enable BIOS-UEFI Mode

Set UEFI/Legacy Boot to [Both] to enable double mode BIOS-UEFI so you will never worry to use any device you have anywhere anytime. You can set Legacy First (UEFI later), or set UEFI First (Legacy later) after UEFI/Legacy Boot Priority right below it. The recommended choice is Legacy First to be the most compatible with most devices. This setup is a solution if you want to avoid frequent BIOS setup so you can boot your Legacy-based as well as UEFI-based Ubuntu operating system disks.

I apologize for the poor photos quality. 

That's all. Happy installing!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Trisquel is a fully free computer operating system while Jami is a complete cross platform communication app. Following the release of the latest OS version 9 codenamed Etiona, and the latest version of the communication app codenamed Together, now I want to explain my experiments with Jami by using my laptop and phone altogether. The results are it works with calls, for both usual audio and also video; can do two ways of share screen; text chats and file sharing also works, with some important notes. Thanks to Trisquel Developers, now using Jami is much more easier than ever. Now let's go chatting!

 

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.Get Trisquel Operating System

Trisquel 9 includes Jami! Hence I use Trisquel on my computer to try Jami. For you, there are options:

• 1st option: Download it. Available in 32 and 64 bit types, between KDE - MATE - LXDE editions to choose.
  
• 2rd option: Alternatively, you can install Jami anyway in any existing operating system you have.

Important Note: for you software freedom seeker, now you can buy a Trisquel laptop from Respects Your Freedom stores that works perfectly without nonfree software.

Get Jami

As far as I know, other than Trisquel 9, no other operating system at the moment includes Jami built-in (neither other modern instant messenger such as Telegram or Signal). However, the available one in Trisquel 9 is an old version, and you can grab the latest version from website https://jami.net by choosing the Trisquel version.

Get Jami on Android

First grab F-Droid app for your Android Phone. Second, instal Jami from the F-Droid. That's all, now you have Jami also on your mobile device. 

Create Your Jami Accounts

To try jami, I suggest you to create two accounts on laptop and phone separately.

On laptop:

This is the first account.

• Run Jami.
• Click Create a new account. 
• Enter a display name for this laptop account.
• Enter a username that will be recognized by others.
• Continue and finish.
• Jami is ready.

On phone:

This is a second account.

• Run Jami.
• Tap Create a Jami account.
• Enter a username that will be recognized by others, continue.
  
• Without creating a password, continue.
• Enter a display name for this phone account, continue.
• Jami is ready.

Start Communication

Here's you can communicate using Jami just like my experiments. You can add friends, text chat, share files, share documents, voice call, video call, two way share screen, and more.

Add new friend:

On laptop, show your QR Code and using Jami on phone scan that. To do so, on phone, simply tap the QR Code logo then Scan Code then move your camera to laptop's screen. This is the quick way to add new friend between laptop and phone.

(Edited photos: depicting Jami Phone tries to scan Jami Desktop's qr code)

Text Chatting: 

 (Jami Desktop: chatting and sending a photo to Jami Phone)

(Jami Phone: multiple screenshots: chatting and sending a voice recording to Jami Desktop)
Share files:
To send: on Jami Desktop, simply drag and drop files from your file manager. On Jami Phone, simply tap triple dot button > Send File > File Manager > select a file > tap check mark button > file sent.

To receive: simply right-click a file and Save File As then it is stored in your personal folder Downloads. On phone, it is also stored in Downloads.

Voice call:
Click phone button and just wait for your friend to answer.  Video call / share screen: First push the video (camera) button > wait for your friend to answer > video call connected > right-click > Share Monitor > screen shared. On phone: you can video or share screen call too, no differences except you can switch front / back camera with camera button (located lowest on screen). This means a lot! It means, Jami can do two ways screen sharing (and even from phone) just like Jitsi plus you can use this with phone to record a live streaming with your main camera. To me, this is a great feature for teaching as an excellent alternative to the free software Jitsi (I use it everyday) as apparently this feature is already usable right now.


Group voice / video call:

When running a video call with another person, simply add more contacts, and go.

Conclusion
Good news, Jami is already usable right now! It is amazing to see a serverless solution with full featured file sharing + video call + screen sharing that works fast for me. I hope everyone now can try Jami by reading this article of mine.

That's all. Happy chatting!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Don't worry, you can run Trisquel laptop to access wifi internet. If you worry about wifi device being disabled due to proprietary software, you can still take advantages of existing tools you already have such as phone or portable mifi. This article is an expansion to Trisquel Friendly Guide II (published two years ago) especially to help users who find their laptop wifi hardware not working with Trisquel. Enjoy internet!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.

This article assumes your Trisquel laptop won't work with wifi. So it tries to give you solutions to this issue by using existing tools you already have which is phone or mifi.

Trisquel at home

If your Trisquel laptop cannot access wifi directly, you can still do so, as long as you have internet access with a mifi device or your Android / iOS phone. 

• Using mifi device: make sure your mifi is connected to the internet -> plug a USB cable between mifi and laptop -> laptop connected to the internet.
• Using phone: make sure your phone is connected to the internet -> plug a USB cable between phone and laptop -> enable USB Tethering on Android or iOS system on phone -> laptop connected to the internet. 

(An example of my own Huawei Mobile Wifi)

 

Trisquel at public wifi

You can still connect to public hotspots such as coffee shops or town parks by taking advantage of your phone. The route is: laptop -> usb tethering -> phone -> public wifi -> internet. To do so, first connect your phone to the wifi, then make sure your phone got internet access,  and finally do USB tethering to your Trisquel laptop. This way, you can still access a wifi even though your laptop internally cannot.

I use this trick at a coffee shop I often go to and it works well. For example, aside from browsing, I can even do telephony and video calls using GNU Jami.

Up to this point, now you should find your Trisquel laptop enabled to install more applications, surf the internet, send emails, and everything.

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

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!

 Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates. 

Why Disroot

• Free account.
  
• Easy registration.
• No phone number, no recaptcha required.
• It is not from GAFAM, it is from Free Software Society.
• It uses and supports Free Software especially for users.
• Gives us email client feature (IMAP) for free accounts.
• It promises privacy and security.
• Famous among privacy community as Gmail alternative.

You can help donate to Disroot here including hardware donations.

Requirements

• A computer, you can borrow your friend's if you don't have one.
  
• A web browser program, like Firefox.
• An existing email account, if you don't have one you can borrow your friend's.
  
• Internet access, of course.
  
• Patience, as it needs 1-2 days for approval.
  

 

Email Account Registration

To send emails, first you must have an email account. To have one, you must sign up to an email service provider like Disroot. So here for the first time we register for an email account to Disroot email provider.

1. Open web browser.
2. Go to disroot.org.
3. Click Sign Up.
4. Fill up all input boxes there.
5. Write down everything on paper so you will not forget.
6. Click register.
7. Wait up to 48 hours for your registration*. 
8. Check your existing email for approval notification.

*) For example, mine got approved at the same day. 

 Congratulations, now you have an email!

1. Access Email Inbox

First time after having an email account, see your inbox. To see your electronic mails, you access inbox. To see inbox, you go to login page. 

• Open web browser.
• Go to disroot.org.
• Click login under Email section.
• Enter your username then your password of Disroot.
• You logged in.
• Here's your email inbox in Disroot.

2. Send Email

To send an email, you first access inbox, and then write a new email. 

• Login to your inbox.
• Click New.
• In To box, enter recipient's email address. For example, you can mail me malsasa [at] disroot [dot] org.
  
• In Subject box, enter a title of this email. For example, you can title it "Hello, Malsasa!".
• Write your email message as you wish. It's better to follow netiquette. 
• Click Send.
  

3. Receive an Email

Once you receive an email, you can read it on the inbox. To receive an email, there is must be somebody to send you one. You can ask your family/friend for example those who have Gmail or Hotmail accounts to do it. Here's an example of an email sent from one email address to my Disroot email address.  

4. Join and Create Email Groups

This is all about mailing list. A mailing list is an email group, that is, a special email address that enables many people send and receive emails together. An excellent email group example is Ubuntu Devel Mailing List located at ubuntu-devel@ubuntu.com. Everyone joined this mailing list can see all messages in Ubuntu Operating System rapid development by people who develop it from all around the world and also reply to them. Please remember, some lists may be either moderated or unmoderated. Aside from joining existing email groups, you can also create a new one, for instance, to discuss something with your team. This section discuss how to join existing one and how to create a new one.

 

(This is a mailing list named ubuntu-devel --where Ubuntu GNU/Linux development discussed everyday-- viewed via web browser)

Join a mailing list:

• Find a mailing list. For example, ubuntu-devel Mailing List.
• Want to see the messages inside? Every mailing list usually has public archive web page, for example ubuntu-devel archive, so everyone can read discussions by members in it.
  
• Send subscription email to the subscribe address*. For example, send a blank email with Subject 'help' to ubuntu-devel-request@ubuntu.com.
• Wait a while for verification and later for your approval.
• Once subscribed, you will receive emails from everyone in the list and can reply too.
• To leave a list, send unsubscribe email to the unsubscribe address*. 

*) Either sub or unsubscribe, alternatively, you can also do that via web page of the mailing list.

 

(This is my mailing list created at Groups.io generous service containing discussions among my students about computing and Free Software)

Create an email group:

• Find a mailing list service. I recommend Groups.io which gives you free mailing lists full featured.
• Register to that service. For Groups.io service, go to Sign Up page.
• Follow further instructions until you got a new mailing list.
• Start inviting your people to subscribe. For example, I have a mailing list for my computer course by address teknoplasma-milis@groups.io. 
• Once people joined, you can start discussions in that mailing list with your people. 

Enjoy email group!

5. Connect Your Computer

To have notifications every time you receive emails, and to make it easier to access inbox and reply to your friends, you can connect your computer to your email inbox. This way, you can work with emails without web browser. You use email client program to do this. In your email service, Disroot here, this is enabled by technologies named IMAP and POP3 you may choose. Regarding email client programs: on Ubuntu it is Thunderbird, on Windows it is Outlook, and on MacOS it is Mail. Regarding the techs: IMAP is like Telegram, you just browse the inbox in multiple devices and can also read offline messages (recommended!); where POP is downloading all messages to your single device while deleting all messages in the server. Follow instructions below.

(Thunderbird mail client on computer is successfully connected to inbox)

According to Disroot Email Documentation, we configure:

• Open email client Thunderbird.
• Add a new email account.
• Set the Email address your Disroot email. 
  
• Set the IMAP address disroot.org; and SSL port 993.
• Set the SMTP address disroot.org; and STARTTLS port 587.
• Done. 
• Congratulations, enjoy your inbox on your computer!
  

 (Real example of a Disroot email account on a computer using Thunderbird app)

To this point, you are already ready for everything with your new email. Enjoy it!

 

Tips and Tricks

KeePassXC - use this useful password manager, as mentioned multiple times here, it helps you save login passwords easily safely for you. By saving your username, password, and emergency question of Disroot email account, once you forgot any, that's okay as you could peek at the password manager.

 (My password manager that contains all my login secrets shows my Disroot account)
 

Happy mailing!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Try Session! This new Australia based messenger is like a combination of Signal security and Tor anonymity and BitCoin network plus requiring no phone number. It's available for both your desktop and phone platforms. Interesting, right? So now this tutorial will show you how to have Session in both devices Ubuntu desktop and Android phone. 

 

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.

 

1. Session Setup for Ubuntu

• Go to getsession.org.
• Click Download Desktop.
• Select Linux option. 
• You downloaded Session's AppImage file.
  
• Run the file then Session Desktop app runs.
• It's ready to go. 

2. Session Setup for Android

• Go to getsession.org
• Click Download Mobile. 
• Select APK option instead of "Android".
• You downloaded Session's APK file.
• Tap the APK file then install it then Session Mobile installed.
• Run Session.
• It's ready to go.

3. Make Session Account for AndroidStart by your Android phone first.

• At first launch, this is your first Session screen*).
  
• Tap Create Session ID.
• You will see a line of random numbers.
• Tap Continue.
• Enter a desired name. Tap continue.
  
• Select Fast Mode between two notification options.
• Tap Continue beside of You're almost finished 80% message.
• Copy your recovery phrase.
• Tap back button.
• Your Session Mobile is ready.

 

4. Make Session Account for Ubuntu

Then start Session at your Ubuntu desktop.

• At first launch, this is your Session Desktop*).
• Under Create Account,click Create Session ID.
  
• Enter a desired name, enter a password twice, then click Get started.
• You got a unique number as your identity.
  
• Account created and you see Session Desktop is now ready.

 

((*) First launch of Session Desktop app)

5. Start Communication

• From your Ubuntu, show your QR Code by doing click your username then click its QR Code logo. 
• From your Android, tap Start A Session (aka add a friend) > tap Scan QR Code > move your phone to scan your Ubuntu's screen QR Code > you got a new friend > your laptop account added in your phone. 
• From Android, send a message to your laptop account.
• From Ubuntu, reply that message. 
• To send pictures and files, from Ubuntu, select multiple files and drag and drop them into a friend in Session Desktop. 
• To do so in phone, from Android, chat with a friend and click upload button and select files and OK. 

(Session Mobile: texting, uploading pictures, and recording voice with Session Desktop)
 

(Session Desktop: replying and file sharing with Session Mobile)

6. Create Group 

Session allows you to make groups up to 20 members each. A Session group is encrypted end to end.

• To create group, from Ubuntu, click New Closed Group button, give it a name, and add a member that is your Android account.
• To add group members, first enter the group, then click Add Member button atop, then select people in your Session contacts > OK.
  

Dark Mode

Yes as the official website shows, Session has dark theme. On Android, tap your account > tap the moon button > dark theme enabled. On Ubuntu, click the moon button at left bottom corner. To revert back to light theme, simply tap the moon button once again.

 (It is so cool other messenger might be jealous)

What is Session?

"Session is an end-to-end encrypted messenger that removes sensitivemetadata collection, and is designedfor people who want privacy and freedom from any forms of surveillance." -- getsession.org

Session is free software licensed under GNU GPL available for your who use desktop (GNU/Linux, Windows, MacOS) and phone (Android and iOS). You can share this with your friends.

Happy sharing!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Continuing my backup series after Syncthing and Operation Tulip, now we try to sync Ubuntu backup tool DejaDup with Nextcloud online storage. Thanks to this collaboration, we can automatically send newly saved photos or screenshots in Picture folder to our online storage. This simple tutorial explains how to do so.

 (Mint, an Ubuntu based system, does DejaDup backup easily to Nextcloud)

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.Requirements

• A Nextcloud account. Create one at Operation Tulip if you do not have one.
• The webdav address from your Nextcloud account (explained below).
  
• DejaDup program installed. It is already preinstalled on Ubuntu (and also Trisquel).
• Internet access. 

 

Setup

• Run DejaDup Backup from start menu.
• Open Folders to save section > add Pictures folder from your Home*. 
• Open Storage location section > select Network from the selections.
• Insert your webdav address** by replacing https:// with davs:// in the Network location box***.
• Insert a new folder name in the Folder input box.
• Open Scheduling section > make sure Automatic backup checked > Every = week > Keep = forever.
• Setup finished.

*) This is an example. Of course you are free to select other folder as you wish.
**) Your webdav address is located in your Operation Tulip, specifically on the bottom of the left panel. 

***) Here's the example of inserting webdav address for Operation Tulip:

If you use Nextcloud service other than Operation Tulip, the method should be the same.

Start Backup

Open Overview section > click Back up now > backup process started. Next time, this backup will be done automatically without your intervention. Happy backing up!

Restore

To restore from a backup, run DejaDup once again, and click Restore. This will download everything that had been backed up and make everything feels at home again in the target folder. Happy restoring!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

This tutorial explains how to integrate your GNU/Linux Mint computer with Nextcloud online storage service. The file manager used is Nemo and the service chosen is Operation Tulip (which I have reviewed). We will connect Nemo File Manager with Nextcloud, send some files, and then compare both storages via web browser.  Enjoy!

(Nemo and Nextcloud used peacefully in my Mint laptop)

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.

 

Requirements

• A Nextcloud online storage account. Create one at Operation Tulip if you don't have one.
• Nemo, the file manager of Mint Cinnamon Edition.
• Internet access.
• KeePassXC password manager (suggested).

 

Setup

Open Online Accounts from the start menu.

Select Nextcloud among other options.

Insert your Operation Tulip login secrets:

• Server addres: cloud.operationtulip.com
  
• Username: your username
  
• Password: your password

Click Connect button and wait for establishment.

Connected! Now your computer is connected to the Nextcloud online storage.

Make sure to enable Files option. Now see Nemo file manager. as your Nextcloud storage becomes a drive under Network section. 

Tip: if you forgot your passwords, peek into your KeePassXC. 

 

File Management

You can do copying, moving, making new files and folders into the new drive on the Nextcloud using your favorite Nemo file manager. Please remember that accessing or copying files in this drive requires internet connection.

 

Copying files: Select a file > right-click > Copy > go to your Operation Tulip drive > right-click > Paste > file copied to your Nextcloud storage. 

Moving files: Same as copying but use Cut instead of Copy option.

Delete files: Open your Operation Tulip drive first > select a file > right-click > Delete > file deleted on your Nextcloud storage. 

Compare Side by Side

Nextcloud technology helps us sync. Thus, as we now have integrated our Nemo with Operation Tulip, we should see whatever exists in Nemo exists too in the Nextcloud. Picture below shows an example of my Nemo on left and my Nextcloud (Operation Tulip) on right.

Want Automatic File Sync?

Go ahead to the installation of Nextcloud Desktop. It is available in Mint too. By using this aside from your Nemo, your files will be automatically sent to the Nextcloud server (Operation Tulip in this example) hands-free. Follow recent tutorial to do so.

Happy sharing!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Here’s a simple analysis on what packages will be downloaded and installed by a special option named ‘Install Multimedia Codecs’ on Mint 20 Ulyana all editions. With this analysis I hope you can see what software licenses you are accepting, including the nonfree ones, and whether it is a Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) enters your computing. This analysis requires you to understand basic Debian’s package management system which is the basic of Mint software distribution especially the concepts of package dependency. Don’t worry I will explain them briefly for you so you can grasp the table clearly. I wish you enjoy discussion below.Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.

Package Name

Function

License (Location)

cabextract,

Microsoft Cabinet file unpacker

Free

(universe)

gstreamer1.0-libav,

Play 90+ multimedia formats (AVI, MPEG, OGG, Matroska, ASF, ...)

Free

(universe)

gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad,

GStreamer Bad Plug-ins is a set of plug-ins that aren't up to par compared to the rest.

Free

(universe)

gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly,

This is a set of good-quality plug-ins that might pose distribution problems.

Free

(universe)

gstreamer1.0-vaapi,

allow hardware accelerated video

Free

(universe)

libavcodec-extra,

FFmpeg library with extra codecs (FFmpeg library with additional de/encoders for audio/video codecs)

Free

(universe)

libdvdcss2,

To allow applications to access some of the more advanced features of the DVD format

Free

(import)

libdvdnav4,

Enables advanced features of DVD like menus and navigation.

Free

(universe)

libdvdread7,

To read DVDs.

Free

(universe)

libhal1-flash,

To allow playback of Flash DRM content.

Free

(universe)

unrar,

Unarchiver for .rar files (non-free version).

Nonfree

(multiverse)

unshield

Extracts CAB files from InstallShield installers.

Free

(universe)

Discussion

 

From table above, we know that among 12 packages, there are 11 which are free software, and one is nonfree software. We know that all packages are located in universe room repository, except two, which one in import room, and one in multiverse room.

Conclusion

 

By installing 'Install Multimedia Codecs' (mint-meta-codecs) one will install mostly free software and at least one nonfree software in their computer.

About Software Distribution

All GNU/Linux distros are software distribution. Meaning, every distro is a combination of redistributed software by a party taken from some other parties which is distributed to you under a new name. So to speak, Debian and Ubuntu and Mint are software distribution. By using one, in your computing you get Firefox, LibreOffice, VLC, and many more rich set of software packages. Software distributed to you in a form that is called package. As a distro has roughly 10000 software or more, so there are roughly 10000 packages, distributed to you. When we say package, (mostly) we mean package. And vice versa, when we say software, (mostly) we mean package. This wealth and richness of software is a challenge. To make this distribution easy for both parties, the distributor and the user, then humans created a system called package management system. For Debian it is apt, for Red Hat it is dnf, for SUSE it is zypper, and so on. As GNU/Linux Mint is based on Ubuntu based on Debian, then it means simply Mint users use apt. In a package management system, there are 4 things, namely package, package format, repository, and package manager. So when we talk about Mint, a Mint user deals with thousands of packages distributed by Linux Mint Project, in deb format, in Mint’s repository, using apt package manager. That’s a summary of software distribution.

About Dependency and Meta Package

Every software depends on other software. That’s how computing works. So every package depends on other package in the talk of GNU/Linux software distribution. This means for example package firefox depends on other package, in certain levels, in certain varieties, forming a chain of dependencies. There are packages which the dependencies are short (e.g. < 10 packages), and there are also packages which the dependencies are long (e.g. > 100 packages). Example for the former is Geany, while the latter is KDE. Dependencies are hard. To make it easy, as mentioned, humans created package management system. That is the function of apt to solve dependencies automatically for the user. Talking about other distros, dnf in Red Hat and zypper in SUSE plays the same role as apt in Debian.

There are thousands of packages distributed to users. However, not all of them contain software. Some contain only information of other packages. In other words, there are two types of packages, those which contain software, and those that links to other packages. The latter is called meta package. When you install a meta package, you install multiple packages linked by it. There are many kinds of meta package, such as, here I give you three examples: meta package to install full desktop environment, meta package to install full multimedia support, and meta package to install full graphic editing suite. The second example here is exactly what mint-meta-codecs is. That is the real thing installed when you click Install Multimedia Codecs on GNU/Linux Mint.

About Repository

There are thousands of packages distributed to users stored in a place on the internet. That place is called repository. Speaking about Mint, thousands of packages are organized into “places” in the repository. Some located in a place, some others located in other place. Similar to a building, in Mint repository there are 4 stories, and every story has 4 rooms, so there are 16 (4x4) places in it. Here’s the explanation:

1st story: ulyana

     contains four rooms: main, restricted, universe, multiverse

2nd story: ulyana-updates

     contains four rooms: main, restricted, universe, multiverse

3rd story: ulyana-security

     contains four rooms: main, restricted, universe, multiverse

4th story: ulyana-backports

     contains four rooms: main, restricted, universe, multiverse

Each GNU/Linux Mint version has its own repository. These are for ulyana version (20 LTS). So, for other version, change the name ulyana above with tara(19 LTS) or sarah (18 LTS) or others. To understand repository organization, let’s see packages locations.

• First example is firefox and libreoffice-writer, located in 1st story, in the main room.
• Second example is nvidia-driver, 1st story in the restricted room.
• Third example is vlc, 1st story, in the universe room.
• Fourth example is unrar, 1st story in the multiverse room.

These are the basic understanding of GNU/Linux Mint package repository. I wish this helps.

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Continuing the Operation Tulip intro, here's a beginner's guide to integrate Ubuntu desktop with Nextcloud. You will get a beautiful, free software application on your desktop that helps you sync files and folders you want to your Operation Tulip online storage. This way, multiple computers and phones you own can access & share same files. We will do this with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Let's enjoy sharing!

Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates.Install Nextcloud Desktop

First thing to do is to obtain the required program which fortunately is available on Ubuntu since version 20.04 LTS:

$ sudo apt-get install nextcloud-desktop

Setup

As a preparation, open Firefox web browser and login to your Operation Tulip. If you didn't have it yet, follow previous guide to create one.

Then start Nextcloud Desktop app and login with your Operation Tulip login secrets.

• 1) Server address: cloud.operationtulip.com
• 2) Username: your username
• 3) Password: your password
• 4) Grant access via web browser that appears to ask you to login to Operation Tulip.
• 5) Choose a folder in Ubuntu as a sync folder, choose also remote folder(s) from Operation Tulip to be downloaded (you can empty them to download nothing).
  
• 5) Nextcloud Desktop is ready.
  

Start Sharing

You can now automatically upload files and folders you want to Operation Tulip online storage. Copy files into your sync folder then Nextcloud Desktop will magically send them all into Operation Tulip. This way, this also acts as backup of your data. (I recommend you to lock/encrypt your files before uploading them.) Green circle on system tray indicates that everything is uploaded successfully. That's all. 

Happy sharing!
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Operation Tulip is an European online service based on Nextcloud technology with beautiful appearance that is free/libre open source software (also known as FLOSS). It is a solution for most people who cannot afford to setup a server computer themselves but want a secure, privacy respecting, full featured internet based storage and file sharing. By having a gratis account you can unlock yourself to try file manager integration, as well as calendar, contacts, backup, and phones synchronization that can be accessed anywhere anytime. Operation Tulip is one great example among others that are still coming and growing. This is a beginner's guide to Operation Tulip as well as more generally to Nextcloud usage. Let's try it out!

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What is Operation Tulip & Nextcloud?

Operation Tulip (https://operationtulip.com) is the service, Nextcloud is the software behind it, and this combination is a complete technology for file sharing comparable to Google Suite that comprises of G. Drive, G. Docs, G. Calendar, G. News, and more. Operation Tulip, based on Sweden, offers gratis accounts (at least up to today), promises to be secure and privacy respecting. Up to December 2020 this generous service is still in Beta Testing and offers everyone a free 50 GB account. You can think Operation Tulip as a strong alternative to Dropbox, MEGA, Mediafire, or of course Google Drive. Read here its Legal Notice or User Guide.

 

What Ubuntu apps can access Operation Tulip?

Operation Tulip is usable with famous software on your Ubuntu:

• Firefox web browser
  
• Nautilus file manager
• Thunderbird email client
• GNOME Calendar
• Nextcloud Desktop
• Online Accounts (settings)

It is also usable from your Android phone with:

• Nextcloud app
• K-9 Mail

1. Create a gratis account

Go to sign up page and finish it. 

Tip: save your login secrets in password storage KeePassXC.

2. Login

Go to sign in page. 

Tip: if you forgot your password, see your KeePassXC.

 

3. Get started with the interface

Here's  a brief intro to Operation Tulip user interface. Don't worry, if you are already accustomed to G. Drive, it is very easy to understand.

• Top left: main menu where you can access files, contacts, calendars, etc.
• Top center: search.
• Top right: notification area & your profile.
• Left area: shortcuts (top) & settings (bottom). 
• Largest area: your files & folders.

 

4. Upload files and photos

Drag and drop from file manager into Operation Tulip. As easy as that!

5. Share files

Click a file or a photo in Operation Tulip web and copy the share link and give that link to your friends. An example should be like this link. 

6. Make Operation Tulip your drive

Go to Online Accounts in your system settings and setup a Nextcloud account with Operation Tulip identities:

• URL: cloud.operationtulip.com
• Username: your username
• Password: your password

 

7. Logout

Click logout button. See you next time!

 

Tips and Tricks

Here's some advises you can try to enhance your nice experience Operation Tulip:

KeePassXC - install this must-have program on your Ubuntu computer and save safely your Tulip's username and password on it so only you know your login secrets.

KeePassDX - install this XC counterpart on Android and I recommend you to obtain it safely from F-Droid instead of Play Store.

Nextcloud Desktop - install this on your Ubuntu computer to help you automatically synchronize (send) folders you want to Tulip drive. This is a good idea to make backups done easily hands free.

F-Droid - have this play store alternative on your Android phone and watch for new apps. Many apps already published in F-Droid so you can live conveniently with Nextcloud technology.

Happy sharing!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

For you wanting a simple way to send/receive files from Mint computer to Android phone, like KDE Connect, you can use Syncthing. To share files, simply copy files into a selected folder on one device they will automatically sent to the other device. It works offline, that is, without internet access. Syncthing is free software available on both Software Manager and F-Droid for both operating systems. This easy to understand tutorial will show how to install and use it for you. Let's start sharing!

(Now my Mint laptop is able to share files with Android phone)

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Requirements 

• A Mint laptop, any version.
• An Android phone, any version.
• A wifi hotspot. 

 

Preparations 

• Install Syncthing both on Mint laptop and Android phone[1].
• Create a new folder named Sync on both laptop and phone.
  
• Start Syncthing on both devices[2].
• On phone, first add new device (laptop), then second, create new folder[3].
• On laptop, after two notifications appear: first add new device (phone), then second, add new folder (from phone)[4].
• Preparations done = both devices say 'up to date'.
  

 (Before sharing, both Sync folders on both devices are empty)

Start Sharing 

1. From laptop to phone: copy files and folders you wish to share into Sync folder.
   
2. From phone to laptop: using your Android file manager, copy files/folders you want to share into Sync. 
   

(After sharing, now both Sync folders on both devices are filled up)
Explanations

 

See below the details and pictures on how to setup the preparations.

[1] Installation:

On Mint laptop:

$ sudo apt-get install syncthing-gtk

On Android phone: install F-Droid and then install Syncthing from it. 

[2] Starting:

Both Syncthings must be active!

• On Mint: run Syncthing-GTK from start menu.
• On Android: run Syncthing.

If it asks you to run a certain service, click OK. Below is the picture when we created two new empty folders named Sync on both devices.

[3] Phone preparation:

1. On Syncthing laptop, on click gear button > Show ID > a QR Code appears on screen.
   
2. On Syncthing phone, open Devices page > tap plus button > Add Device appears > tap QR Code button > a scan screen appears > scan QR Code on laptop screen > your laptop detected.
3. Still on phone, type the name: Laptop > tap check mark button > a new device "Laptop" added in Syncthing phone.
4. Still on phone, open Folders page > tap plus button > Create Folder appears > type the name: Sync > change directory path to a folder that will connect to the laptop > enable "Laptop" selection > change folder type to: Send & Receive > tap check mark button > a sync folder created.

 

[4] Laptop preparation:

1. Wait for a few seconds, 1st notification of a new device i.e. your phone appears > click Add button > change Device Name: Phone > Save > a new device "Phone" added.
2. Not too long after that, 2nd notification of a new remote folder i.e. Sync sent from your phone appears on your desktop > accept it > change Folder Label: Sync > change Path: /home/master/Sync by replacing master with your own username > change rescan interval: 10s > add check mark to Monitor filesystem for changes > remove check marks to other ones > switch to Share With Devices tab > add check mark to Phone > Save > a sync folder "Sync" added.
3. Up to date status with green background appears like picture below. 
   
4. Now your devices are ready to share files.
   

 (Green color on Syncthing means everything is ready)

Happy sharing!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Here's my review of Linux Mint 20, the user friendly computer operating system from Ireland, Europe, released June this year, named Ulyana, and is also a Long Term Support version. This major release happened two months after its basis, Ubuntu Focal Fossa, and two years after the previous Linux Mint 19 Tara LTS, released. It brings a new star feature, called Warpinator, which enables us to share files between laptops easily via wifi hotspot, along with other features. It comes with great news too as now it shipped as their third generation branded computer MintBox3. I do this review using my Lenovo ThinkPad laptop with my favorite edition selection Cinnamon. Finally, now let's enjoy Ulyana goes on!

(Ulyana GNU/Linux: cool and elegant on my ThinkPad laptop)
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What's new?

In short, there are several fresh improvements in Ulyana:

• Warpinator
• Flatpak added
• Snap removed
• Fractional scaling
• Five years support until 2025
• No 32 bit anymore
  

About Ulyana

Linux Mint is an operating system based on Ubuntu GNU/Linux. It is long living, user friendly, and can empower your PC and laptop as alternative to Microsoft or Apple. Just like its base releases with versions and codenames, Mint also releases with versions and codenames, and the one discussed in this review is version 20 codenamed Ulyana.

Computers 

Since 2012, Linux Mint has already been mass produced as personal computers both in desktop and laptop choices. The Project partnered with CompuLab and ThinkPenguin vendors and made this giant job a reality. Not only that, in late years we see two more vendors namely Star Labs and  In short, they are MintBox 3, MintBox Mini 2, The Penguin D, The Penguin Pro, and then LabTop as well as Clevo.

Here's how they look like:

(Computers: 1st browser showing official Linux Mint Shop, 2nd browser showing ThinkPenguin Shop, and 3rd browser showing Star Labs Shop)

Here's an official Twitter post:

MintBox 3 Reviewhttps://t.co/YSPhRhgi6h pic.twitter.com/9wMGT0GXYa

— Linux Mint (@Linux_Mint) March 27, 2020

 

Desktop

A beautiful and consistent user interface loved by many. The colors, the shapes, the placements of things, everything feels intuitively communicative to humans who use it. This look is composed of themes of window borders, icons, and desktop which are collectively called Mint-Y. On Ulyana version, once again, Mint comes with this traditional look.

(Ulyana computer of mine)

A complete, daily task fulfilling set of software applications is available. Ulyana comes with full featured office suite, web browser, email client, and multimedia players. Plus a large set of applications for every humanity need you can search and add yourself in the Software Manager.

Our star in this release is Warpinator. It is a new ability infused in Ulyana so that Mint computer users can share files easily over a network without relying to the internet. What's impressive about this is that Warpinator is developed by The Linux Mint Team themselves. I tried it using two laptops via an offline wifi hotspot and that's true - it works! Picture below shows my session where I send files to my other laptop with same operating system Mint 20 (in LiveCD mode).

Ulyana desktop is self-promoting. Just see the web browser. It is an easy to use portal*. Every time a user opens their web browser, they see a special Ulyana start page, comprising of clever promotion of Linux Mint as well as a search engine. For a Mint computer user, they see Mint brandings, its colors, its latest news, as well as one click short way to get its user guide and read Ulyana release notes.

(Integration: file manager displaying my online storage containing a lot of pictures while beside it web browser showing Operation Tulip storage with my account synchronized perfectly)

The desktop can be easily integrated to online services. From start menu > Online Accounts, we can add Google, Nextcloud, Facebook, and others to be synchronized with Ulyana system. As example, lately I promoted Operation Tulip (a complete service based on Nextcloud technology) so I tried integrating my Ulyana laptop with it and the result is perfect. Once synced, I can open my online storage as a disk drive (partition) on file manager. Now I can save and browse files to my online storage as easy as drag and drop just within Nemo file manager.

(Self promotion: web browser showing the portal - beside it, word processor (LibreOffice Writer) now looks more familiar thanks to Colibre icon set - below it Nemo file manager works as robust as always)

Multimedia playbacks work as expected. The audio player is Rhythmbox while the video player is the brand new Celluloid. which are able to play mp3 mp4 as well as ogg and ogv multimedia files. The impressive side is that, they are well integrated to the Cinnamon desktop so that we can control easily from the system tray.

(Multimedia: Celluloid playing a video, and Rhythmbox below it playing audio, while the system tray displays the playback controls like pause and next for both players)

*) This portal page uses Google while the address bar search uses Yahoo! search engine.

Power

First, how about booting? 

It is 20 seconds to boot up on my ThinkPad. Here's you can even download my booting log in txt* and also my booting chart picture in png**.

Second, how about resources? 

It is around 900 MegaBytes of memory when idle time calculated after three times of booting after a fresh install. Compared to its counterparts from 20.04 family, it is obviously higher than Kubuntu but a little bit smaller than Ubuntu. I can note you that I, using my ThinkPad, can still run two virtual machines (vm) of Kubuntu Bionic and Focal simultaneously, but I cannot do so of Tara and Ulyana (it results in hang for a long time).

By these, I think Ulyana Cinnamon is a standard weight system (not light weight, not heavy weight) considering its own branded hardware's specifications in particular and nowadays growing standard laptop & PC in general.

*) Produced by systemd-analyze blame > blame.txt
**) Produced by systemd-analyze plot > plot.svg

Technologies

Communication works like a charm. No matter the technology I choose, whether it is instant messenger like Telegram, or new social networking sites like Mastodon, youtube-like broadcasting site like PeerTube, or something completely new like Element, everything works like expected. Support in Ulyana for these four technology of choices are already out-of-the-box.

(Playing with all new technologies namely Nextcloud, PeerTube, and Mastodon on Ulyana)

Talking about the choice of software installation methods, on Ulyana, it is clear that Flatpak won over the removal of Snap. You will see this by visiting Software Manager and see 

Not neglecting Android phone integration, on Ulyana, although we still cannot use Warpinator for this, alternatively we can use Syncthing which is available in both Software Manager as well as F-Droid. I tried this and after some trial and errors, it works!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Continuing the LibreOffice Shortcuts, Use Open Document, and LibreOffice Switch, here is one more colorful educational poster to promote Free Software and switch from nonfree software at the same time. This poster introduces not only LibreOffice alone, but also GIMP as a replacement alternative to Photoshop, as example, among other examples. You can freely take this poster, edit and translate to your own language, and share with your people in your country. For example, you can use this as a wall poster in your school or pick one to put on your personal website. As always, this poster is also available as png and svg. With this, I wish you can proudly invite people to adopt Free Software.

Downloads:

Full poster: png

Individual posters in png: gimp | inkscape | libreoffice | scribus | blender | kdenlive | freecad | telegram | firefox | thunderbird | qt | vlc

Edit: svg (use the free program Inkscape)

Happy promoting!

This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.