• Zotac launches its first five embedded mini-PCs — with Ubuntu

  Zotac unveiled a line of Linux-ready, embedded “ZBox Pro” mini-PCs. The fanless systems include an Apollo Lake based “Pico” ultra-mini-PC plus Braswell and Apollo Lake based “Nano” and Kaby Lake based “QK” models.

  Consumer mini-PC maker Zotac has announced its first line of embedded mini-PCs and the first available with pre-loaded Linux. The Intel-based ZBox Pro series computers are aimed more at light embedded duty such as digital signage than industrial work, and they offer processors and I/O that are very similar to Zotac’s consumer media, desktop replacement, and gaming designs. However, they offer more durable, aluminum cases with extended -20 to 40⁰ to 45⁰ support, depending on the model. They also provide “more controlled tolerances” than Zotac’s consumer mini-PCs, and they offer 5-year longevity support.

• Debian build helpers: dh dominates

  It's been a while since someone did this. Back in 2009, Joey Hess made a talk at Debconf 9 about debhelper and mentioned in his slides (PDF) that it was used in most Debian packages.

• Molly de Blanc: Free software activities (January, 2019)

  January was another quiet month for free software. This isn’t to say I wasn’t busy, but merely that there were fewer things going on, with those things being more demanding of my attention. I’m including some more banal activities both to pad out the list, but to also draw some attention to the labor that goes into free software participation.

Canonical today reminded Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) users that it would make its commercial Extended Security Maintenance (ESM) offering available series starting May 2019.

Released on April 17, 2014, the Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) operating system series will reach its end of life in about three months from the moment of writing, on April 30, 2019. Ubuntu 14.04 was an LTS (Long Term Support) release, which means that it received software and security updates for five years.

Last year on September 19, Canonical informed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr) users that they would be able to purchase additional support for the operating system through its commercial offering called Extended Security Maintenance (ESM), which proved to be a huge success among Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) users.

• Ubuntu's Work On New Desktop Installer Continues, Evaluating ZFS Desktop Support

  A few things in Ubuntu's latest weekly development summary caught our attention... As has been going on for months, a new Ubuntu installer "Ubiquity-NG" continues to be worked on, but seemingly tying into that they are looking at ZFS support on the desktop. 

  Public details are light, but it looks like Canonical is evaluating the means of better supporting ZFS on the desktop. ZoL packages are available for all Ubuntu editions right now, but not any nice/easy-to-use desktop installer integration at the moment. 

• The Fridge: Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 564

• Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 564

• LXD For Linux Containers Had A Very Fruitful 2018

  While Canonical often takes heat for their various project "forks", their work on LXD for further innovating atop LXC for Linux containers has really paid off. Over the past few years LXD has really evolved into quite a capable system container manager beast. 

  Stéphane Graber of Canonical talked at FOSDEM in Brussels yesterday about LXD over 2018 and its many accomplishments. The biggest achievement for this project that continues to be led by Canonical is that LXD now ships on all Chromebooks as part of its container support for running Linux applications.

• Easy IoT with Ubuntu Core and Raspberry Pi

  My current job involves me mostly working in the upper layers of the desktop software stack however I started out working in what was then called embedded engineering but now would probably be know as the Internet of Things (IoT). I worked on a number of projects which normally involved taking some industrial equipment (radio infrastructure, camera control system) and adding a stripped down Linux kernel and an application.

• Debian buster on the Raspberry Pi 3 (update) [Ed: Updated Monday]

• Looking for a new Raspberry Pi image maintainer

• Recently patched Ubuntu needs another quick patch

  Sometimes when I fix things around my house I end up causing more problems. Software developers are the same way. Last week, Canonical's Ubuntu developers fixed over 10 security bugs in Ubuntu 18.04… But, as it turned out, it introduced at least two other bugs.

• LibreOffice patches malicious code-execution bug, Apache OpenOffice – wait for it, wait for it – doesn't

  A security flaw affecting LibreOffice and Apache OpenOffice has been fixed in one of the two open-source office suites. The other still appears to be vulnerable.

  Before attempting to guess which app has yet to be patched, consider that Apache OpenOffice for years has struggled attract more contributors. And though the number of people adding code to the project has grown since last we checked, the project missed its recent January report to the Apache Foundation. The upshot is: security holes aren't being patched, it seems.