today's leftovers

• Sonic Mania ‘Plays Perfectly’ on Linux via WINE

  The Windows version of Sonic Mania is playable on Linux using WINE — and that’s not just me saying that, that’s a bunch of Linux gamers over on Reddit (where else?).

• Icculus has ported The End is Nigh to on-demand service 'Jump', Linux may come soon plus some thoughts

  Ever heard of the on-demand subscription gaming service Jump? It's an on-demand game streaming service and Icculus just ported The End is Nigh to it. Recently, I wrote about how The End is Nigh might be coming to Linux. Sadly, that's not actually the case just yet. Announcing it on his Patreon, Icculus noted about his work to port it to the on-demand service Jump. They actually reached out to him to do it, as it turns out.

• liveslak 1.1.9 and new ISO images

  The ‘liveslak‘ scripts used to create the ISO images for Slackware Live Edition have been stamped with a new version, 1.1.9. The updates are significant enough to warrant an ‘official’ update and new ISO images. The latest set of Slackware Live Edition ISOs are based on liveslak 1.1.9 and Slackware-current dated “Tue Sep 19 20:49:07 UTC 2017“. Just in time (I was already creating ISOS based on -current “Mon Sep 18 19:15:03 UTC 2017“) I noticed that Patrick downgraded the freetype package in Slackware, and I re-generated all of the ISO images to incorporate the latest freetype package – because that one is working and the previous one had serious issues. If you already use a Slackware Live USB stick that you do not want to re-format, you should use the “-r” parameter to the “iso2usb.sh” script. The “-r” or refresh parameter allows you to refresh the liveslak files on your USB stick without touching your custom content.

• The best of Tizen deals from Samsung’s ‘Smart Utsav’ festive offers in India

• Chrome 62 Beta: Network Quality Estimator API, OpenType variable fonts, and media capture from DOM elements

  Unless otherwise noted, changes described below apply to the newest Chrome Beta channel release for Android, Chrome OS, Linux, Mac, and Windows.

• Chrome 62 Beta Released With OpenType Font Variations, DOM Media Capture

  Google has rolled out their public beta of the upcoming Chrome/Chromium 62 web-browser update.

• Turning Off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth in iOS 11's Control Center Doesn’t Actually Turn Off Wi-Fi or Bluetooth [Ed: Proprietary software means you cannot trust it and anything you think it does it likely won't]

  Turning off Bluetooth and Wi-Fi when you're not using them on your smartphone has long been standard, common sense, advice. Unfortunately, with the iPhone's new operating system iOS 11, turning them off is not as easy as it used to be. Now, when you toggle Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off from the iPhone's Control Center—the somewhat confusing menu that appears when you swipe up from the bottom of the phone—it actually doesn't completely turn them off. While that might sound like a bug, that's actually what Apple intended in the new operating system. But security researchers warn that users might not realize this and, as a consequence, could leave Bluetooth and Wi-Fi on without noticing.

• HP Brings Back Obnoxious DRM That Cripples Competing Printer Cartridges

  Around a year ago, HP was roundly and justly ridiculed for launching a DRM time bomb -- or a software update designed specifically to disable competing printer cartridges starting on a set date. As a result, HP Printer owners using third-party cartridges woke up one day to warnings about a "cartridge problem," or errors stating, "one or more cartridges are missing or damaged," or that the user was using an "older generation cartridge." The EFF was quick to lambast the practice in a letter to HP, noting that HP abused its security update mechanism to trick its customers and actively erode product functionality. HP only made matters worse for itself by claiming at the time that it was only looking out for the safety and security of its customers, while patting itself on the back for being pro-active about addressing a problem it caused -- only after a massive consumer backlash occurred.

• EFF quits W3C over decision to accept EME as Web standard

   

  The Electronic Frontier Foundation has resigned from the World Wide Web Consortium after the latter announced it was accepting the published Encrypted Media Extensions as a Web standard.  

Programming: OpenJ9, HHVM, and Good API Documentation

• IBM open-sources a microservices-friendly Java app server

  A few weeks ago, Nginx released its multilanguage microservices-friendly app server, but without Java support at launch. Now IBM has a beta build of its own microservices-friendly app server for Java applications: the open source Open Liberty, which implements IBM’s version of Java EE and MicroProfile microservices implementation. Open Liberty will provide a runtime supporting Java microservices that can be quickly updated and moved among different cloud environments. When combined with the Eclipse OpenJ9 Java Virtual Machine, OpenLiberty will provide a full Java stack, IBM said. (OpenJ9 had been IBM’s J9 JVM, which it contributed to the Eclipse Foundation that now manages Java EE.)

• The Future of HHVM

  Several months ago, PHP officially announced the end-of-life for PHP5. The HHVM team is happy about the direction PHP has taken with PHP7, and we’re proud of the role we’ve played in pushing the language and runtime to where they are today. Since the PHP community is finally saying goodbye to PHP5, we’ve decided to do so as well.

• The Ten Essentials for Good API Documentation

OSS: SRT, Redox OS, Apache Spark, Magento, OpenBSD and More

• SRT open-source video project adds transfer, multiplexing features that can reduce streaming costs

  The SRT Alliance, an open-source initiative focused on developing methods for low-latency video streaming, has released version 1.3 of the SRT video transport protocol. This version supports encrypted fast file transfer of VOD files and the multiplexing of streams within the same network port. Founded by streaming video providers Haivision and Wowza, the SRT Alliance is focused on developing an open source alternative to proprietary technologies.

• Redox OS 0.3.3 Released, Lowers RAM Usage

  The Rust-written Redox operating system is out with a new feature release. Redox OS 0.3.3 is the operating system's new version and its primary benefit is much lower memory use. Redox OS 0.3.3 is now using just about 480MB of RAM rather than around 1.3GB.

• Fast track Apache Spark

  These tips highlight Spark’s ability to deliver serious gains in productivity despite limited user computing capability. There is definitely an ideal Spark setup for each organization’s particular needs. One or all of the following will most likely be necessary once there is buy-in from stakeholders to create a robust analytics system: expanding to a cluster setup, building a data warehouse, and utilizing an infrastructure team. My hope is that this post has given you some tips to make it easier to create a proof-of-concept with Spark that justifies stakeholder investment, and that it has provided some pointers if you decide that a bare bones Spark setup is best for you.

• Magento’s Open Source Release

  On 14th September 2017, Magento released “Open Source” (Magento 2.1.9) which seeks to improve and upgrade current Magento software. According to the Magento team, the new release contains 40 security fixes and enhancements.

• Setup a desktop environment under OpenBSD with XFCE

• Reasons to Open Source Your Syllabus

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