OS
What is project /e/? Should you install it on your Android smartphone?
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 18th of February 2019 08:34:47 AM Filed under

Have you ever thought about how secure your Android device, let’s be clear, not very much. Now you might be wondering why? It is because due to Android being open source many apps can track you. However, if you are even a bit into flashing new ROMs onto your smartphone or even rooting your mobile /e/ might be the thing you want to read about right now.
The /e/ ROM helps enhance device security and makes your Android powered smartphone much more secure. /e/ is a project of the E-Foundation, which is focused on enhancing a user’s device security by restricting anything that logs user data. As per the company, /e/ is a non-profit project, made in public interest. The E Foundation is building an open-source mobile operating system, which respects a user’s data privacy.
Project /e/ provides a great and unique mobile operating system alternative, stripped down of all the services that might collect and use user data. Things like Google services that collect user information anonymously are stripped down and replaced with things like microG services which enable users to enjoy the benefits of Android without Google collecting their data.
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Linux Vs. Unix: What's the Difference?
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 18th of February 2019 02:24:28 AM Filed under

Linux and Unix are often compared to each other. If the similarity in their names wasn't enough, Linux is technically a descendant of Unix, and they share a number of similarities in tool kits and overall structure. They aren't exactly the same, though, and the approaches and philosophies behind them are radically different.
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elementary 5 "Juno"
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Friday 15th of February 2019 06:21:41 PM Filed under


In the spring of 2014 (nearly five years ago), I was preparing a regular presentation I give most years—where I look at the bad side (and the good side) of the greater Linux world. As I had done in years prior, I was preparing a graph showing the market share of various Linux distributions changing over time.
But, this year, something was different.
In the span of less than two years, a tiny little Linux distro came out of nowhere to become one of the most watched and talked about systems available. In the blink of an eye, it went from nothing to passing several grand-daddies of Linux flavors that had been around for decades.
This was elementary. Needless to say, it caught my attention.
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postmarketOS – A Linux Distribution for Mobile Devices
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Friday 15th of February 2019 10:46:53 AM Filed under

Not too long ago, I published an article on TecMint about 13 Most Promising New Linux Distributions to Look Forward in 2019 in which I listed a distro for mobile phones, Bliss OS.
Today, I introduce to you a free, open source, and futuristic project that aims to bring mobile devices together in one swoop.
postmarketOS is a touch-optimized, security-focused, and pre-configured Alpine-based Linux distribution created to be compatible with several old and new devices.
Below is an introduction from the developers themselves,
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Ethical Hacking, Ubuntu-Based BackBox Linux OS Is Now Available on AWS
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Thursday 14th of February 2019 04:18:52 PM Filed under

If you want to run BackBox Linux in the cloud, on your AWS account, you should know that the ethical hacking operating system is now available on the Amazon Web Services cloud platform as an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) virtual appliance that you can install with a few mouse clicks.
The BackBox Linux operating system promises to offer Amazon Web Services users an optimal environment for professional penetration testing operations as it puts together a collection of some of the best ethical hacking tools, which are already configured and ready for production use.
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postmarketOS at FOSDEM 2019
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Monday 11th of February 2019 01:34:18 AM Filed under

Last weekend was FOSDEM 2019, Europe's biggest event for open-source and free software developers to meet, share ideas and collaborate. A few postmarketOS developers and community members attended, as well as several other Linux phone project members. Of course, besides just walking around and attending several interesting talks, we also took this opportunity to do some work!
The PINE64 company was present with their own stand, and a PINE64 community meeting in the evening. They showed off their almost ready PinePhone development kits, and some other neat hardware like a fully open-source IP camera, their new Pinebook Pro and PineTablet. Since @z3ntu, @MartijnBraam and @PureTryOut took their Pine A64-LTS kits with them (which uses basically the same hardware as will be in the PinePhone), we decided to do some work improving our port, and we got the screen working for the first time!
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Ex-CopperheadOS dev spits fire as CEO says project not dead
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Thursday 7th of February 2019 06:52:01 AM Filed under

Followers of PiunikaWeb may remember that we published an article yesterday about the ‘demise’ of CopperheadOS and possible alternatives.
The term ‘demise’ is intentionally kept under quotes, as CopperheadOS is not actually dead. The company, Copperhead Limited, is still selling the privacy focused OS bundled with second generation Google Pixel phones.
James Donaldson, CEO of Copperhead Limited, posted a quick (and surprising) tweet after the original story got published.
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The demise of CopperheadOS and rise of its successors
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Wednesday 6th of February 2019 03:31:37 AM Filed under

Remember CopperheadOS? The privacy centric, Google-less version of Android with enforced security hardening was created by a two-man team based on Toronto. Their startup, Copperhead Limited, used to sell Nexus and Pixel phones with preinstalled CopperheadOS.
Unfortunately it did not last long. The differences in business policy led to a fight between the CEO James Donaldson and the lead developer Daniel Micay. James ultimately fired Daniel.
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UNIX: Building The Most Important OS in the World
Submitted by Roy Schestowitz on Tuesday 5th of February 2019 03:56:55 PM Filed under

If you’ve ever used a smartphone, lost track of time browsing through website after website, or played a video game on a Next-Gen console, you have used the Unix operating system or one of its derivatives.
Linux is the spiritual successor to the original Unix system and Mac OSX is built off of Unix. Unix-based or derived systems are used in gigantic server farms, processing nearly all of the world’s Internet traffic. The Internet of Things and other embedded systems use Unix or its successors and Unix-based Linux has even been used in the International Space Station to run essential equipment.
All of this is possible because Kenneth Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, and their colleagues couldn’t watch a beloved project fall victim to corporate cost-cutting.
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Embedded Linux OS LibreELEC 9.0 Released with Kodi 18 "Leia," Here's What's New
Submitted by Rianne Schestowitz on Tuesday 5th of February 2019 01:17:00 AM Filed under

LibreELEC 9.0 (Leia) is now available featuring the recently released Kodi 18.0 "Leia" open-source and cross-platform media center software, which brings numerous new features and enhancements like retro gaming support, DRM support to stream Netflix and Amazon Prime content, and RDS (Radio Data System) support.
Also improved in Kodi 18 "Leia" is the Blu-ray support to allow you to watch 4K, 8K, and HDR content, Mir/Wayland support on Linux, Bluetooth support, Music Library, VDADecoder support, as well as the default "Estuary" skin. All these and much more are now available for LibreELEC users too.
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