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Videos/Audiocasts/Shows: Linux Journal Expats, Linux Experiment, and Krita Artwork
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 16th of April 2021 08:10:29 PM Filed under

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You Should Open Source Now, Ask Me How!
Katherine Druckman chats with Petros Koutoupis and Kyle Rankin about FOSS (Free and Open Source Software), the benefits of contributing to the projects you use, and why you should be a FOSS fan as well.
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System76 starts their own desktop environment, Arch goes the easy route - Linux & Open Source news
This time, we have System76 working on their own desktop environment based on GNOME, Arch Linux adding a guided installer, Google winning its court case against Oracle on the use of Java in Android, and Facebook is leaking data online, again. Become a channel member to get access to a weekly patroncast and vote on the next topics I'll cover
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Timelapse: inking a comic page in Krita (uncommented)
An uncommented timelapse while inking this page 6 of episode 34 of my webcomic Pepper&Carrot ( https://www.peppercarrot.com/ ). During the process, I thought about activating the recorder and I even put a webcam so you can see what I'm doing on the tablet too. I'm not doing it for everypages; because you can imagine the weight on disk about saving around 10h of videos like this; and also how it is not multi-tasking: when I record, you don't see me open the door to get the mail of the postman, you don't see me cleaning temporary accident of a cat bringing back a mouse at home, you don't see me typing to solve a merge request issue to merge a translation of Pepper&Carrot.
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Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) - Everything You Need to Know
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 16th of April 2021 04:48:40 AM Filed under
One thing is sure; FOSS has taken significant strides over the way since the 80s. Apparently, FOSS has been around since the 1950s, when purchased hardware was run by free specialized bundled software.
Until 1985, Richard Stallman founded the Free Software Foundation that was meant to support the Free Software Movement. FSF committed to Free Software, the one that users could use for free, modify, sturdy, and even share.
According to Stallman, the main difference between open source and free software is the fact that “open source is ideally a development methodology, while free software is merely a social movement.”
A year later, FOSS came into the limelight based on four freedoms. The four freedoms of free software were established solely as a result of the free software movement, and they denote what exactly constitutes free software.
Here are the freedoms;
Freedom 0 – this is the freedom that allows you to use the program for any purpose; you simply run it as you wish.
Freedom 1 – it is the freedom to accessing the code. It means that you can study how the program works. Interestingly, you have the freedom to change it to do your computing just as you wish.
Freedom 2 – this is the freedom to redistribute the copies to others to help them.
Freedom 3 – it’s the freedom to distribute your copies of modified versions to others. That way, you give the entire community the chance to benefit from the changes you made. A precondition for this is accessing the source code.
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OSMC: The new video stack for Vero 4K / 4K +
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 16th of April 2021 03:51:00 AM Filed under

We'd like to take the time to share a number of improvements that will arrive with our new video stack with Kodi v19 which will benefit Vero 4K and Vero 4K + users. Here are a few of the main improvements:
3D MVC support
Support for 3D MVC ISOs and MKV will be supported out of the box as standard. For performance reasons, we would recommend ripping 3D discs as MKVs at this time, as seeking can be delayed when playing ISOs. 3D subtitles are also well supported, with subtitle depth working as expected.
Better HDR support
The new stack supports full passthrough of HDR10 and HDR10+ metadata for supported receivers and displays. The HLG EOTF will also be triggered when playing HLG material on a compatible display.
Furthermore, we have improved the way Vero 4K and 4K + converts from HDR10 to SDR (BT709). With the default setting users should see a slightly brighter render on SDR displays.
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Budgie Desktop 11 Ditching GNOME in Favor of Qt
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 16th of April 2021 03:47:27 AM Filed under

Just a couple of days ago, the lead developer and CEO of Solar project “Local key Doherty” announced major changes in Budgie Desktop 11, with an account of some developments coming along. In that blog, he also made an announcement that took the users by surprise;
[...]
That’s right! Budgie is ditching GNOME to make the transition to Qt.
Ikey remarked that this change would take effect upon the next major release of the software, which effectively discards the components of GNOME architecture.
Initially, Budgie was designed to work with GNOME software programs, which eventually lead to its full integration into the GNOME software stack.
This slow and unprecedented integration raised some problems for Solar Project. First, they had to scramble to update Budgie anytime GNOME released an upgrade because the outdated version would cause errors. This started ever since the first version 3.10 of Budgie was made public, and the problem persisted until GNOME 3.22.
The problems would manifest as API/ABI inconsistencies, elements cluttering each other, clogged workflow, widgets, and template crashes. In some instances, GdkScreen APIs became completely dysfunctional.
Videos/Audiocasts/Shows: Thelio Major by System76, Ubuntu Podcast, and More
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 15th of April 2021 08:42:31 PM Filed under

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Full Review: The 2021 Thelio Major by System76
I decided to purchase a System76 Thelio Major desktop for use in the studio, in order to cut through my video renders and other workloads faster. After spending some time with this awesome desktop, I give it a full review in this video.
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Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo: S14E06 – Flap Bake Signal
This week we have been deploying bitwarden_rs and get the Stream Deck to work well on Ubuntu. We discuss how much we really use desktop environments, bring you a GUI love and go over all your wonderful feedback.
It’s Season 14 Episode 06 of the Ubuntu Podcast! Alan Pope, Mark Johnson and Martin Wimpress are connected and speaking to your brain.
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Leaving Doom Emacs For GNU Emacs? - DT Live!
New to Emacs and want to learn how to config it? Install Emacs and follow along with me on the stream. Though I have been using a preconfigured Emacs distribution (Doom Emacs), in this livestream I will start with a fresh installation of GNU Emacs and write a config to suit my needs.
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Myth busted: Can you run sway/wayland’s i3 without systemd or elogind?
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 15th of April 2021 06:48:41 PM Filed under

For a while, we have heard this justification, among distributions that have refused systemd as init, that elogind was adopted as a necessity for running wayland which is the future of graphical desktops. Some future this is, but anyway. For Artix it was a day one decision, for Void and Adelie it has been a year or more, for Slackware a few months. But it is only a handful of distros at this point that have totally refused the use of elogind and stick to consolekit2 (which was recently upgraded upstream unlike common myth that has it abandoned). Consolekit2 can handle logind functionality but can’t provide seat management. So there is seatd, a daemon that just does this. So count the different functions, unrelated to each other, that systemd provides all in one huge blob.Sway is the equivalent of i3 for wayland. For i3 users their setup transfers 100% to sway, all modified functionality will be there once you login.
Wlroots is wayland’s modular library. This is native in obarun and maintained to help wayland function without systemd/elogind. It is currently kept back at 0.12 as Arch but will be soon upgraded to 0.13.
Greetd – wlgreet is a display manager compatible with wayland. This has a PKGBUILD at the link above so you can build it appropriately for Obarun.
None of these are officially supported as a desktop setup in Obarun yet, but the setup is a demonstration that it can be done. Can it be done with sysv, openrc, runit? We don’t know. Can it be done with s6? Since it is done within Obarun it can be done. Whether you can handle the complex service setup without 66 and in lack of any other service manager, who knows! Of course you can cheat and employ 66, do the setup, then remove 66 and leave it as is, as a pseudo custom s6 setup of services. Don’t cry if one day you decide to switch services, disable one, enable another, without 66. The procedure can make a tough man cry.
Gavin Falconer or bbsg in Obarun forum, has started this thread for the discussion of this project/solution. A how-to instructional thread. A few of us have tried it and made it work. I am sure it will receive plenty of attention and refinements in the near future, and possibly be adopted officially as an Obarun setup, with all the related packages added to the repositories. For now it is a community project, and it is proof that it can be done.
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Hardware: Embedded, Graphics, and Raspberry Pi
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 15th of April 2021 02:42:10 PM Filed under

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Tiny module and dev kit can run with Mini or Nano
Beacon EmbeddedWorks’ tiny “i.MX 8M Mini/Nano SOM” runs Linux or Android on the Mini or Nano with up to 8GB LPDDR4, eMMC, WiFi/BT, and an optional “Zoom” dev kit.
Eden Prairie, Minn. Based Beacon EmbeddedWorks, which was formerly Logic PD and is now a subsidiary of electronics manufacturing services firm Compass Electronics Solutions, has announced a compute module that supports either the NXP i.MX8M Mini or similar, but slightly stripped down i.MX8M Nano. The i.MX 8M Mini/Nano SOM offers up to 8GB LPDDR4 with the Mini and 4GB with the Nano.
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Nvidia launches TAO software for easier AI model training
Nvidia unveiled a GUI-based “TAO” framework that eases AI model training for GPU-equipped platforms such as Jetson. There is also an upcoming “Grace” CPU plus improvements to Nvidia’s Jarvis voice agent, Maxine video SDK, and other AI tools.
At GTC 2021 today, Nvidia unleashed a torrent of announcements including the unveiling of an Nvidia TAO (Train, Adapt, and Optimize) framework for speeding AI development. Here we will focus on TAO along with brief examinations of improvements to Nvidia’s Jarvis voice technology, Maxine video SDK, DeepStream video analytics, and Merlin deep learning recommender system.
The main event at GTC was the unveiling of an AI-enhanced, server-oriented Grace CPU based on next-gen Arm Neoverse IP. By the time it arrives in 2023, Nvidia should have completed its pending, $40 billion acquisition of Arm.
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Low-cost WiFi and LoRa gateway add-on offers flexible configuration options
On Kickstarter: a $21-and-up “Axon” board with 4x DI that can act as a standalone ESP8266-based WiFi gateway with optional LoRa and/or connect via USB Type-C to a Pi or other system.
A Barcelona-based startup called Qortex is close to reaching its $1,189 Kickstarter goal for a flexible, ESP8266-based “Axon” WiFi and/or LoRa gateway. The device can double as a sensor add-on to a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, or any other board that supports serial communications. A free Axon Cloud service with storage and an online serial monitor is also available, enabling you to set up a low-cost WiFi or LoRa based sensor network.
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Mini-PCIe adapter enables M.2-based 5G on Gateworks SBCs
Gateworks’ “5G Cellular M.2 Adapter” is a mini-PCIe card for its Ventana, Venice, and Newport SBCs equipped with an M.2 B-key slot that supports 5G modems plus dual nano-SIM slots.
Gateworks offers a variety of mini-PCIe modules for its Arm/Linux SBCs, including last year’s Sub-1GHz and BLE-equipped GW16122 IoT Radio. Now, to keep its customers up to date with the latest M.2-form factor 5G cellular modems, the company has launched a 5G Cellular M.2 Adapter that supports modem modules up to 52mm in length.
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Raspberry Pi: a versatile tool for biological sciences
Audiocasts/Shows: BSDNow, FLOSS Weekly, TLLTS and More
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 15th of April 2021 10:58:07 AM Filed under


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BSDNow 398: Coordinated Mars Time
FreeBSD 13.0 Full Desktop Experience, FreeBSD on ARM64 in the Cloud, Plan 9 from Bell Labs in Cyberspace, Inferno is open source as well, NetBSD hits donation milestone, grep returns (standard input) on FreeBSD, Random Programming Challenge, OpenBSD Adds Support for Coordinated Mars Time (MTC) and more
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FLOSS Weekly 625: Endless Sky - Jonathan Steck
Jonathan Steck joins Jonathan Bennett and Dan Lynch talk to about Endless Sky, an open source video game reminiscent of Elite and Escape velocity, and one that even hearkens back to Spacewar! On FLOSS Weekly, Steck and the show hosts talk about the game itself and the community around it. The project has attracted an interesting bunch of contributors, mainly through its presence on Steam as a free game. There are several challenges the project has overcome, from the sabbatical of the founder, to managing the continued growth and interest in the game. The game is addictive, and the conversation is just as good.
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The Linux Link Tech Show Episode 902
retro computing, sound cards, mumble woes
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Conflict | Coder Radio 409
We visit an alternate reality where Epic wins in their fight against Apple, COBOL reigns supreme, and the halls of great Jedi Temple are lined with Object-C developers.
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KDE Neon | Plasma Desktop Linux Distrubution
Alpine 3.13.5, 3.10.9, 3.11.11 and 3.12.7
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Wednesday 14th of April 2021 07:13:47 PM Filed under


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Alpine 3.13.5 released
The Alpine Linux project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 3.13.5 of its Alpine Linux operating system.
This release includes a fix for apk-tools CVE-2021-30139.
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Alpine 3.10.9, 3.11.11 and 3.12.7 released
The Alpine Linux project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of version 3.10.9, 3.11.11 and 3.12.7 of its Alpine Linux operating system.
Those releases include fixes for apk-tools CVE-2021-30139.
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EasyOS Dunfell version 2.7 released
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Wednesday 14th of April 2021 09:47:25 AM Filed under


Throughout 2020 and early 2021, the flagship releases of EasyOS were the "Buster series", built with DEB packages from Debian Buster 10.x. There were also releases of the "Dunfell series", compiled from source in a port of OpenEmbedded, that took a back-seat.
Now, EasyOS Dunfell version 2.7 has the driver's seat and is the flagship release. Almost all of the packages are compiled in a port of OpenEmbedded, with the exception of a few large and difficult-to-cross-compile packages, such as LibreOffice and SeaMonkey -- these were compiled in the running EasyOS 2.7 pre-release.
LibreOffice and SeaMonkey are the latest versions, 7.1.2.2 and 2.53.7. Network management has been enhanced with ModemManager, which NetworkManager Applet and ModemManage GUI are frontends for. NetworkManager Applet is an icon in the systray and ModemManager GUI is in the "Network" menu. The Linux kernel is 5.10.26.
There have been some significant bug fixes since the previous release of EasyOS, including faster startup of a Linux distribution desktop in a container (without wallpaper corruption), Osmo stability, and the XorgWizard previously causing X not to start.
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| Videos/Audiocasts/Shows: Linux Journal Expats, Linux Experiment, and Krita Artwork
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Kernel Leftovers
| Devuan 4.0 Alpha Builds Begin For Debian 11 Without Systemd
Debian 11 continues inching closer towards release and it looks like the developers maintaining the "Devuan" fork won't be far behind with their re-base of the distribution focused on init system freedom.
The Devuan fork of Debian remains focused on providing Debian GNU/Linux without systemd. Devuan Beowulf 3.1 is their latest release based on Debian 10 while Devuan Chimaera is in the works as their re-base for Debian 11.
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