• Confronting Flatkill: The Case Against Flatpaks - YouTube

  Flatpaks are are very useful tool however, they're not perfect and some people have taken it upon themselves to show off the problems that exist with them in this case this author discusses some of the security problems but they make a few very simple mistakes along the way.

• Security updates for Tuesday [LWN.net]

  Security updates have been issued by Debian (thunderbird), Fedora (createrepo_c, dnf-plugins-core, dnf-plugins-extras, librepo, livecd-tools, and pdns-recursor), openSUSE (firefox and mailman), Oracle (firefox), Red Hat (chromium-browser, java-1.8.0-openjdk, and Satellite 6.8), Scientific Linux (java-1.8.0-openjdk), SUSE (libvirt), and Ubuntu (blueman, firefox, mysql-5.7, mysql-8.0, php7.4, and ruby-kramdown).

Stabilization of the NixOS happens a month before planned release. The goal is to have as little as possible continuous integration (Hydra) jobs failing before the release is cut. While we would like to release on time, a high quality release is more important.

Individuals who contributed to stabilizing this release: volth, Robert Scott, Tim Steinbach, WORLDofPEACE, Maximilian Bosch, Thomas Tuegel, Doron Behar, Vladimír Čunát, Jonathan Ringer, Maciej Krüger, and 190 others!

• Equality vs Identity

  You're probably already familiar with equality: that's the == operator. identity uses the is operator.

• Creating a Binary Search in Python – Real Python

  Binary search is a classic algorithm in computer science. It often comes up in programming contests and technical interviews. Implementing binary search turns out to be a challenging task, even when you understand the concept. Unless you’re curious or have a specific assignment, you should always leverage existing libraries to do a binary search in Python or any other language.

• How to Set Axis Range (xlim, ylim) in Matplotlib

  Matplotlib is one of the most widely used data visualization libraries in Python. Much of Matplotlib's popularity comes from its customization options - you can tweak just about any element from its hierarchy of objects.

  In this tutorial, we'll take a look at how to set the axis range (xlim, ylim) in Matplotlib, to truncate or expand the view to specific limits.

• On code isolation in Python | Artem Golubin

  I started learning Python in 2009, and I had a pretty challenging task and somewhat unusual use of Python. I was working on a desktop application that used PyQT for GUI and Python as the main language.

  To hide the code, I embedded Python interpreter into a standalone Windows executable. There are a lot of solutions to do so (e.g. pyinstaller, pyexe), and they all work similarly. They compile your Python scripts to bytecode files and bundle them with an interpreter into an executable. Compiling scripts down to bytecode makes it harder for people with bad intentions to get the source code and crack or hack your software. Bytecode has to be extracted from the executable and decompiled. It can also produce obfuscated code that is much harder to understand.

• Python Software Foundation Fellow Members for Q3 2020

  It's that time of year! Let us welcome the new PSF Fellows for Q3! T

Chemtool is a lightweight application for drawing chemical structures like organic molecules. It's originally written by Thomas Volk from Germany. Later on, more developers came to aid for development and code maintenance.

[...]

The program is created for Linux X systems, it does not work on Windows or macOS.

License

Chemtool is released under GNU General Public License.

• Do You Need a Boot Partition in Linux? - Make Tech Easier

  If you fire up a partitioning tool and point it at your hard disk drive, it’s quite probable you will see a small boot partition before everything else. It may only eat up a tiny fraction of your hard disk drive and not appear when actively using the computer. Is that partition essential? Can you delete it? Read on to find the answers to whether you need a dedicated boot partition on your Linux installation.

• How To Install SQLite on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS - idroot

  In this tutorial we will show you how to install SQLite on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, as well as some extra required package by SQLite

• How to Quickly Set Up a Mail Server on Ubuntu 20.04 with Modoboa

  Quickly set up your own email server on Ubuntu 20.04 with Modoboa, which is a free and open-source mail hosting and management platform designed to work with Postfix SMTP server and Dovecot IMAP/POP3 server.

• How to install the Kubernetes dashboard > Tux-Techie

  The Kubernetes dashboard provides a way to manage your Kubernetes cluster from your browser. You can easily check CPU usage, memory usage, and overall health of your cluster with the dashboard. You can also deploy applications from the dashboard and much more. In this tutorial, we will show you how to install the Kubernetes dashboard on a cluster running in Ubuntu 20.04. We will also set up an admin account and log in to the dashboard with a token. Check out this article to learn how to set up a Kubernetes cluster.

• Beginner's guide to NGINX SSL CONFIGURATION - The Linux GURUS

  Security is one of the main concerns that needs to be addressed on priority for all applications or websites. All websites are required to have a valid SSL certificate installed in order to encrypt the data packets/traffic between users & websites. Even web browsers show a warning when we visit a website that does not have SSL certificate installed.

  In this tutorial, we will discuss how we can perform Nginx SSL configuration to configure a SSL certificate to secure our websites hosted on Nginx. So start the complete process for Nginx SSL configuration but let’s discuss the prerequisites first.

• Pandora Client Pithos 1.5.1 Released [Ubuntu PPA] | UbuntuHandbook

  Pithos, native Pandora Radio client for Linux, released version 1.5.1 a day ago with minor bug-fixes and improvements.

  [...]

  If you’re OK with the containerized flatpak package. Pithos 1.5.1 has been made into flathub.org for most Linux systems.

  For those prefer .deb package, the unofficial PPA is available for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, Ubuntu 20.10.

The Cosmo Communicator is what you’d get if you crossed a smartphone with a pocket-sized laptop computer. Unfolded it looks like a tiny laptop with a keyboard inspired by the design of the classic Psion Revo PDA. Fold it and you’ve got a smaller cover screen that you can use for phone calls, notifications, or other simple tasks.

Aside from the clamshell design, the phone has another unusual feature: it typically ships with Android, but can also support alternate operating systems including Debian Linux and Sailfish OS.

Developed by Planet Computers, the Cosmo Communicator went up for pre-order through a crowdfunding campaign in late 2018 and began shipping to backers in mid-2019. Now Planet Computers has announced an update for the Debian Linux software that runs on its phone, bringing support for a bunch of new cover screen features.

Security and performance are often mutually exclusive concepts. A great user experience is one that manages to blend the two in a way that does not compromise on robust, solid foundations of security on one hand, and a fast, responsive software interaction on the other.

Snaps are self-contained applications, with layered security, and as a result, sometimes, they may have reduced perceived performance compared to those same applications offered via traditional Linux packaging mechanisms. We are well aware of this phenomenon, and we have invested significant effort and time in resolving any speed gaps, while keeping security in mind. Last year, we talked about improved snap startup times following fontconfig cache optimization. Now, we want to tell you about another major milestone – the use of a new compression algorithm for snaps offers 2-3x improvement in application startup times!

LZO and XZ algorithms

By default, snaps are packaged as a compressed, read-only squashfs filesystem using the XZ algorithm. This results in a high level of compression but consequently requires more processing power to uncompress and expand the filesystem for use. On the desktops, users may perceive this as a “slowness” – the time it takes for the application to launch. This is also far more noticeable on first launch only, before the application data is cached in memory. Subsequent launches are fast and typically, there’s little to no difference compared to traditionally packaged applications.

To improve startup times, we decided to test a different algorithm – LZO – which offers lesser compression, but needs less processing power to complete the action.

As a test case, we chose the Chromium browser (stable build, 85.X). We believe this is a highly representative case, for several reasons. One, the browser is a ubiquitous (and popular) application, with frequent usage, so any potential slowness is likely to be noticeable. Two, Chromium is a relatively large and complex application. Three, it is not part of any specific Linux desktop environment, which makes the testing independent and accurate.

For comparison, the XZ-compressed snap weighs ~150 MB, whereas the one using the LZO compression is ~250 MB in size.

• Ubuntu Fridge | Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 654

  Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 654 for the week of October 18 – 24, 2020. The full version of this issue is available here.

• Apache HTTP Server

  The Apache HTTP server (or simply Apache) was launched in 1995 as an outgrowth of a public domain httpd project from the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). According to the Apache website, development of that project stalled, so a group of webmasters got together to coordinate their own changes, extensions, and bug fixes in the form of patches. These developers, including Brian Behlendorf, Cliff Skolnick, and others, formed the basis of the original Apache Group, which in turn became The Apache Software Foundation.

  After launch, Apache quickly became the most popular web server on the Internet. The project is now developed and maintained, along with hundreds of other projects, by The Apache Software Foundation and is released under the terms of Apache License 2.0.

• 8 Great Free Photo And Video Editing Software To Use For Beginners

  Blender

  On Linux, Ios, and PCs, Blender is another one of the most outstanding free video editing applications on the marketplace today. Blender is a fully free-to-use open-source platform. Blender was developed as a 3D animation kit, but it comes with a very convenient video editor.

  The video editor for Blender is an appropriate one for much of your video needs. This editor requires simple acts such as video cutting and sequencing to be done. It also helps you to do more difficult tasks, such as camera masking. This software makes it a compelling video editing that caters to beginners as well as experienced users.

  Shotcut

  Shotcut is completely an open-source software, like Blender. This platform suggests that you get linked to all the software without paying the update after installing it. This film editor provides a wide variety of file formats, and there is an excellent selection of instructional videos.

  Although this video editing app has excellent functionality, the interface can seem a little funky to some people. Initially, the platform Linux designed this application, and it sure reflects that. But, it is still a value video editor underneath the covers.

  [...]

  Openshot

  Openshot is a fully open-source, which renders it one of the most available tools for video editing. It’s simple to use drag and drop design and remind some Mac users a little more of iMovie.

  Openshot, though, contains more functionality, including infinite textures and audio mixing, than iMovie. This free editor achieves a good compromise among sophisticated functionality and a primary interface. When you build switches between scenes, it also enables real-time displays.

  GIMP

  GIMP is a popular picture editing app, shortened for GNU Image Processing Program, which features highly advanced and efficient tools. It is not for the faint-hearted or for those who do not understand much about pictures’ processing.

  Due to its software and functionality, it has been widely touted as a better Photoshop substitute. It contains the same resources for editing, blending, paints, text, and more. You can use presets and plugins in an instant, as well, but there is no cataloging feature.

• Making the Business Case for Contributing to Open Source

• Sending logs from syslog-ng to Grafana Loki - Blog - syslog-ng Community - syslog-ng Community

  Loki is one of the latest applications that lets you aggregate and query log messages, and of course to visualize logs using Grafana. It does not index the contents of log messages, only the labels associated with logs. This way, processing and storing log messages requires less resources, making Loki more cost-effective. Promtail, the log collector component of Loki, can collect log messages using the new, RFC5424 syslog protocol. This is where syslog-ng can send its log messages.

  From this blog, you can learn a minimal Loki & Promtail setup. We will send logs from syslog-ng, and as a first step, will check them with logcli, a command line utility for Loki. Once it works, we will also install Grafana in a container and query Loki from there.

• New Release: Tor Browser 10.0a9 (Android Only)

  Android Tor Browser 10.0a9 is now available from the Tor Browser Alpha download page and also from our distribution directory.

  Note: This is an alpha release, an experimental version for users who want to help us test new features. For everyone else, we recommend downloading the latest stable release instead.

• What Is Google Widevine DRM and Why Do You Need It?

  If you’re streaming content from services like Netflix and Hulu, you may have seen a prompt to install Google Widevine. Depending on your device and browser, it may already be built in by default. Either way, many users want to know exactly what it is and what it does. The good news is it isn’t a virus and it’s safe. It’s also required to view certain streaming content.

• Nitro PDF maker hit by breach it says is 'isolated', sec firm claims otherwise

  A software firm that had its origins in Melbourne has suffered a data breach that it has described in a notice to the ASX as "an isolated security incident" but which cyber security provider Cyble has claimed is a massive leak that affects companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Chase and Citibank.

• Biden Campaign App '[Crack]' Shows Him Wearing MAGA Hat, Telling People to Vote Trump

  According to a video demonstration published today by experts from Norwegian mobile security company Promon, the software is open to attack via a bug called StrandHogg, which can be abused by malicious hackers to put fake overlay screens over apps and steal sensitive information, including usernames and passwords.

  In a test showing how such an attack could appear in the real world, the team was able to exploit the bug and insert a picture overlay on the Biden campaign app.

• ENTERPRISES SHOULD FIX THESE 25 FLAWS [Ed: NSA fails to mentions Microsoft Windows as a whole (because it has "good" back doors in it)]

  The United States National Security Agency identified 25 vulnerabilities in software that are most commonly targeted by state-sponsored attackers from China. Setting aside the question of whether or not the enterprise is more likely to be targeted by nation-state attackers or cyber-criminals, the list provides enterprise IT staff with a good starting place on which vulnerabilities to prioritize.

  The vulnerabilities on NSA’s list can be used to gain initial access to enterprise networks by targeting systems directly accessible from the Internet. Seven of the flaws are in remote access gateways, three are found in networking equipment, and three impact public-facing servers. Once in the network, the attacker can use other vulnerabilities to find other systems to compromise and carry out their activities. Seven flaws on the list involve internal servers, two affect Active Directory, and one exists in mobile device management.

• This keyboard phone runs three operating systems, including Android

• Big YouTube for Android and iOS update brings full-screen mode gestures, enhanced Video Chapters, and button re-arrangement

• 24i and Amino boost Android TV

• How to Take Screenshots on Your Smart TV

• Free Hidden Keylogger for Android - How to choose Best?

• How to Find Hidden Apps on your Android Device?

• How to Copy and Paste Text, Links, and Photos on Android

• Why does my Android go straight to voicemail? 6 fixes

• Google Pixel 5 vs. iPhone 12 mini: Which should you buy?

• PHP version 7.3.24RC1 and 7.4.12RC1 - Remi's RPM repository - Blog

  Release Candidate versions are available in testing repository for Fedora and Enterprise Linux (RHEL / CentOS) to allow more people to test them. They are available as Software Collections, for a parallel installation, perfect solution for such tests, and also as base packages.

  RPM of PHP version 7.4.12RC1 are available as SCL in remi-test repository and as base packages in the remi-test repository for Fedora 32-33 or remi-php74-test repository for Fedora 31 and Enterprise Linux 7-8.

  RPM of PHP version 7.3.24RC1 are available as SCL in remi-test repository and as base packages in the remi-test repository for Fedora 31 or remi-php73-test repository for Enterprise Linux.

• PHP - Removing Specific Element from An Array – TecAdmin

  Q. How do I remove a specific element from an array using PHP.

  In this tutorial, you will learn two PHP unset() and array_splice() methods to remove specific array elements.

• 2020.43 Release And Star

  Quite a number of releases this week(end): Alexander Kiryuhin released the Rakudo 2020.10 compiler release, Claudio Ramirez immediately provided many Linux package versions of that release, and JJ Merelo updated the standard Raku Alpine Docker image, as well as the special Raku Alpine Docker Image for testing modules by module developers.

• Retrieving Email and Phone No. for a Desktop App from Google Contacts using Python and Gmail API | by Aritra Roy | Analytics Vidhya | Medium | Codementor

  Though python has been created by Guido van Rossum as a hobby project in the 90’s decade, it has become the most popular language now. Due to its ability to work in various fields and easy syntax python is now used in Big-Data Analysis, ML & AI, Deep-learning, image-processing as well as in web development, game development, and so on. Moreover, it has plenty of libraries which one can use to easily and quickly complete the task.

• Working with Numbers in Python | FOSS Linux

  In this "Working for Python" tutorial, we shall see the various ways to use the Integers, Floating point numbers, and complex numbers with practical examples.

• New book: Create Graphical User Interfaces with Python

At the end of last week System76 released Pop!_OS 20.10 as their customized distribution built atop Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy Gorilla. For those curious here are some benchmarks of System76's Pop!_OS 20.10 versus 20.04 using the Thelio Major with AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X and Radeon RX 5700 XT graphics.

Pop!_OS 20.10 has similar key package versions to Ubuntu 20.10 for which it is based: the Linux 5.8 kernel is at play, GNOME Shell 3.38.1, X.Org Server 1.20.8 by default, Mesa 20.2.1, GCC 10.2, Python 3.8.6, and numerous other package updates.

• AMD to Acquire Xilinx, Creating the Industry’s High Performance Computing Leader

  AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) and Xilinx (NASDAQ: XLNX) today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for AMD to acquire Xilinx in an all-stock transaction valued at $35 billion. The combination will create the industry’s leading high performance computing company, significantly expanding the breadth of AMD’s product portfolio and customer set across diverse growth markets where Xilinx is an established leader. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to AMD margins, EPS and free cash flow generation and deliver industry-leading growth.

• AMD To Acquire Xilinx In $35 Billion Stock Deal - Phoronix

  Following the rumors earlier this month that AMD was in talks to acquire Xilinx, a deal has been announced this morning.

• Chuwi LarkBox Pro mini PC gets a faster Celeron J4125 processor, sells for $179 [Ed: Can sites that call themselves "Linux" stop marketing hardware that strictly comes with Microsoft Windows?]

  The mini PC ships with Windows 10 Home, but it can also run Linux distributions.

• MINISFORUM X35G Review: The Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Linux Experience [Ed: MINISFORUM is now spamming sites with its Windows-only PCs, calling them Linux. It's only Windows that comes out of the box. Only Windows.]

  Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS) works out of the box

• MINISFORUM EliteMini H31G Coffee Lake Mini PC Review with Windows & Linux

  MINISFORUM have launched their EliteMini H31G which combines a desktop CPU with a discrete graphics card in a mini PC form factor. It supports various Intel 9th and 8th gen desktop processors combined with an NVIDIA Geforce GTX1050 Ti graphics card and targets both gamers and content creators.

• Oplà IoT Kit is Arduino's first open programmable IoT platform

  Arduino is well-known for its maker boards and shields that are sometimes sold as part of kits to experiment with electronics. Arduino Oplà IoT kit is a little different as it looks more like an actual consumer product once assembled. Powered by an Arduino MKR WiFi 1010 board, it is designed to make getting started with IoT easy for beginners, while still allowing more advanced users to customize and hack their smart home applications.

• Arduino Blog » This machine dispenses labels, making it easier to peel them off

  Labels are easy enough to take off of a roll, but doing so repeatedly while trying to keep count, could perhaps change one’s mind. If you find yourself having to apply label after label… after label, then an Arduino-based dispenser like Mr Innovative’s could be just the thing you need to streamline the process.

  The automated machine uses a stepper motor to pull labels past a series of rods, separating the sticky-backed “FRAGILE” sign upon encountering an especially abrupt change in direction. An IR sensor beneath detects the presence of the label, keeping the device from advancing further until it’s removed.

Let the yearly wrap-ups begin! Thanks to COVID-19, we'll start them out just a wee bit early. And why not? It's not as if the last two months of the year are nearly as productive as the first 10. As we start to wind down the year, let's wind up the lists. This time around, I want to take a look back at what I believe to be the best Linux server distributions of 2020.

Even though it was a tough year, there were still some exciting things to arrive in the tech industry. With Linux continuing to see big gains, especially in the world of enterprise computing, it should come as no surprise that the server world is being absolutely dominated by the open source platform.

Forlinx has a new “OK1028A-C” networking board based on a “FET1028A-C” module that runs Linux on a dual -A72 NXP LS1028A. The SBC features 5x GbE ports with TSN plus an LVDS link for HMI.

Last year, Forlinx launched the headless OK1043A-C and OK1046A networking SBCs, which run Linux on NXP’s quad-core, Cortex-A53 LS1043A and quad -A72 LS1046A SoCs, respectively. Now, the Chinese company has posted details on a similarly sandwich style OK1028A-C SBC with a FET1028A-C module loaded with a 1.5GHz, dual-core, Cortex-A72 LS1028A. The SBC supplies an LVDS interface to enable HMI (Human-Machine Interface) applications. The boards are supported with Ubuntu 18.04 with Qt 5.9.9.

• Linux Foundation Launches Diversity and Inclusion Project [Ed: This is total and complete hogwash from hypocrites]

  The Linux Foundation has launched the Software Developer Diversity and Inclusion (SDDI) project to increase diversity and inclusion in software engineering by examining and promoting best practices from research and industry.

• Linux Foundation Focuses on Science and Research to Advance Diversity and Inclusion in Software Engineering [Ed: Well, they support monopolies, not diversity]

• Oracle Linux 8 - Installation made easy with free videos

  With “work from home” mandates and less opportunity to go to in-person classes, you might be looking for training opportunities you can start on today. We all need some help to get started on developing our skills. To make it easy for you, we’ve put together a series of blogs where you’ll find free, short videos that you can take at your own pace to get a better at understanding of Oracle Linux 8. You can develop skills to use and administer Oracle Linux 8 on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, on-premises, or in hybrid environments.

  This first blog focuses on the installation and boot process. You can learn step-by-step how to complete an Oracle Linux 8 installation for on-premises deployment and how to create an Oracle Linux 8 instance on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. You can also learn about the boot process and how to configure different services to start at boot time.

• Red Hat Satellite 6.8 is now available with upgrade improvements and IPv6 support

  Red Hat is pleased to announce that Red Hat Satellite 6.8, part of your Red Hat Smart Management Subscription, is now available. This release of Red Hat Satellite Server 6.8 focuses on Satellite Server and Capsule Server upgrade improvements, expanded provisioning options, and IPv6 support.

• The Sandwich Situation: Ansible Modules for the OpenStack SDK

• Linux command basics: printf | Enable Sysadmin

  Use printf to format text or numbers.

The GStreamer team is pleased to announce the first bug fix release in the stable 1.18 release series of your favourite cross-platform multimedia framework!

This release contains important security fixes. We suggest you upgrade at your earliest convenience.

This release only contains bugfixes and it should be safe to update from 1.18.0.

See the GStreamer 1.18.1 release notes for more details.

In 2006 the NEPOMUK project began. The goal was not a search engine but “a freely available open-source framework for social semantic desktops”, put even less simply a “Networked environment for personal ontology-based management of unified knowledge”. The project had €17 million of funding, much of it from the EU. The Semantic Web mindset had reached the free desktop world.

I don’t know where all the money went! But one output was NEPOMUK-KDE, which aimed to consolidate all your data in a single database to enable new ways of browsing and searching. The first commit was late 2006. Some core KDE apps adopted it, and some use cases, ideas and prototypes emerged.

Meanwhile, Nokia were busy contracting everyone in the Free Software world to work on Maemo, an OS for phones and tablets which would mark the start of the smartphone era had a certain fruit-related company not beaten them to it.

• Pop!_OS 20.10 - Full Review - YouTube

  System76 recently released the latest version of their popular Linux distribution, Pop!_OS 20.10. In this review, I go over what you can expect from the latest version and share my thoughts. We'll take a look at the new features (and more).

• Why Linux Users Should Pay Attention To Fedora 33

  Fedora 33 is a crucial (and awesome) Linux distro release for many reasons, including the new Welcome screen, Wayland stability and GNOME 3.38. Schykle is here to break it all down and explain why this is such an important version to pay attention to.

• Late Night Linux – Episode 101 – Late Night Linux

  Drama with open source office suites, the RIAA attacks open source, a new Ubuntu release complete with Raspberry Pi support, new Arm hardware, and the usual KDE goodness.

• Power Up Your Java Using Python With JPype - The Python Podcast

  Python and Java are two of the most popular programming languages in the world, and have both been around for over 20 years. In that time there have been numerous attempts to provide interoperability between them, with varying methods and levels of success. One such project is JPype, which allows you to use Java classes in your Python code. In this episode the current maintainer, Karl Nelson, explains why he chose it as his preferred tool for combining these ecosystems, how he and his team are using it, and when and how you might want to use it for your own projects. He also discusses the work he has done to enable use of JPype on Android, and what is in store for the future of the project. If you have ever wanted to use a library or module from Java, but the rest of your project is already in Python, then this episode is definitely worth a listen.