- wlug - list.wlug.org.nz

Phrase Of The Week: “Vegetative Electron Microscopy”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 05 Mar '25

05 Mar '25

Amusing summary <https://www.computerworld.com/article/3836728/you-thought-genai-hallucinati…> of research into how bad AIs can get in some of the rubbish results they produce. We knew they could lose their hold on reality and start making things up, but did you know they could also cheat, and tell lies about that cheating when confronted with it? For example, when given charge of doing share trades, and told not to (illegally) take advantage of insider information, they might do so anyway, and then simply deny it when challenged. Oh, and the phrase “vegetative electron microscopy” is complete nonsense; it originated when an AI was processing multicolumn text, and saw words next to each other which were in separate columns, not part of the same sentence at all, and ran them together anyway. From there, the phrase somehow spread to other publications ...

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Blender - Oscar win for Flow
by Peter Reutemann 03 Mar '25

03 Mar '25

'Making Flow – Interview with director Gints Zilbalodis Flow, the animated feature film following the mystical journey of a dark grey cat and his companions, is the manifestation of Blender’s mission, where a small, independent team with a limited budget is able to create a story that moves audiences worldwide, and achieve recognition with over 60 awards, including a Golden Globe for Best Animation and two Oscar nominations. In this interview, Gints Zilbalodis, writer and director (and more!) of the film, shares how Blender was instrumental in the creation of the film.' -- sources: https://www.blender.org/user-stories/making-flow-an-interview-with-director… https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/flow-wins-best-animated-feature-film-osca… Cheers, Peter

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Mozilla Revises Firefox's Terms of Use, Clarifies That They Don't Own Your Data
by Peter Reutemann 03 Mar '25

03 Mar '25

'"We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible," Mozilla explained Wednesday in a clarification a recent Terms of Use update. "Without it, we couldn't use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything other than what is described in the Privacy Notice." But Friday they went further, and revised those new Terms of Use "to more clearly reflect the limited scope of how Mozilla interacts with user data," according to a Mozilla blog post. More details from the Verge: The particular language that drew criticism was: "When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox." That language has been removed. Now, the language in the terms says: "You give Mozilla the rights necessary to operate Firefox. This includes processing your data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice. It also includes a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license for the purpose of doing as you request with the content you input in Firefox. This does not give Mozilla any ownership in that content...." Friday's post additionally provides some context about why the company has "stepped away from making blanket claims that 'We never sell your data.'" Mozilla says that "in some places, the LEGAL definition of 'sale of data' is broad and evolving," and that "the competing interpretations of do-not-sell requirements does leave many businesses uncertain about their exact obligations and whether or not they're considered to be 'selling data.'" Mozilla says that "there are a number of places where we collect and share some data with our partners" so that Firefox can be "commercially viable," but it adds that it spells those out in its privacy notice and works to strip data of potentially identifying information or share it in aggregate.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/03/01/2111254 Cheers, Peter

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Steam Deck & PC Gaming
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Feb '25

26 Feb '25

PC gaming is still a bigger business than consoles, according to <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2025/01/way-more-game-makers-are-working-on-…>. And the Linux-powered Steam Deck has been pioneering the new handheld segment of the PC gaming market. But figures on Steam Deck sales are hard to come by. Here <https://newsletter.gamediscover.co/p/steam-deck-everything-you-were-afraid> is an attempt to tease out, from the available hints, how popular the product actually is. That article is over a year old by now, but it estimates that there were 3-4 million Steam Decks sold by that point. I think we can safely say another million or more in units has been added to that since then. One concrete figure from the Steam Hardware Survey <https://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey/Steam-Hardware-Software-Survey-Welc…> is that about 2.3% of all Steam users are on Linux. This looks like 0.7% specifically on the Steam Deck, so other Linux would be about 1.6%. Another linked survey reports that over half of Steam Deck users run other game emulation systems (e.g. PlayStation 2, Game Boy, GameCube) on their Decks.

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Pi-hole 6 Is Here: Now Faster, Smarter, and More Secu
by Peter Reutemann 25 Feb '25

25 Feb '25

'The much-anticipated Pi-hole 6, a network-wide ad blocker that acts as a DNS sinkhole to block advertisements, trackers, and malicious domains at the network level, has been officially released, now featuring an embedded web server and a new REST API directly integrated into the pihole-FTL binary. This eliminates the need for Lighttpd and PHP, reducing the installation footprint and boosting overall performance. Moreover, the new API introduces server-side pagination for the query log, ensuring a faster and more responsive user experience. Next, advanced filtering gets a boost by introducing support for subscribed allowlists, also known as “Antigravity.” These allowlists work similarly to traditional blocklists but allow domains rather than denying them, giving users more nuanced control over what content gets filtered. Additionally, configuration management has been made more user-friendly by consolidating multiple settings files into a single, richly commented TOML file located at “/etc/pihole/pihole.toml.” Whether you prefer direct file editing, command line tweaks, API usage, or environment variables—Pi-hole 6 has you covered. It’s also worth noting that the user interface has received a complete overhaul. With settings now divided into Basic and Expert modes, users can tailor their experience based on their comfort level.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/pi-hole-6-is-here-now-faster-smarter-and-more-secure/ Cheers, Peter

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Greg Kroah-Hartman Supports Rust in the Kernel
by Peter Reutemann 24 Feb '25

24 Feb '25

'Report from Phoronix: Linux's second-in-command Greg Kroah-Hartman has also been a big proponent of Rust kernel code. He's crafted another Linux kernel mailing list post [Wednesdsay] outlining the benefits of Rust and encouraging new kernel code/drivers to be in Rust rather than C. Greg KH makes the case that the majority of the kernel bugs are due to "stupid little corner cases in C that are totally gone in Rust." "As someone who has seen almost EVERY kernel bugfix and security issue for the past 15+ years... and who sees EVERY kernel CVE issued, I think I can speak on this topic," Kroah-Hartman began. Here's some excerpts from his remarks. Citing corner cases like overwrites of memory, error path cleanups, use-after-free mistakes and forgetting to check error values, Kroah-Hartman says he's "all for... making these types of problems impossible to hit." That's why I'm wanting to see Rust get into the kernel, these types of issues just go away, allowing developers and maintainers more time to focus on the REAL bugs that happen (i.e. logic issues, race conditions, etc.)... [F]or new code / drivers, writing them in Rust where these types of bugs just can't happen (or happen much much less) is a win for all of us, why wouldn't we do this...? Rust isn't a "silver bullet" that will solve all of our problems, but it sure will help in a huge number of places, so for new stuff going forward, why wouldn't we want that...? Yes, mixed language codebases are rough, and hard to maintain, but we are kernel developers dammit, we've been maintaining and strengthening Linux for longer than anyone ever thought was going to be possible. We've turned our development model into a well-oiled engineering marvel creating something that no one else has ever been able to accomplish. Adding another language really shouldn't be a problem, we've handled much worse things in the past and we shouldn't give up now on wanting to ensure that our project succeeds for the next 20+ years. We've got to keep pushing forward when confronted with new good ideas, and embrace the people offering to join us in actually doing the work to help make sure that we all succeed together. Kroah-Hartman emphasized later that "a huge majority of the stupid things we do in C just don't happen in the same code implemented in Rust (i.e. memory leaks, error path cleanups, return value checking, etc.) " The complete thread contains over 140 messages — including Linus Torvalds' observation that " #pragma is complete garbage and should never be used."' -- source:https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/02/22/0543255 Cheers, Peter

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Brave Now Lets You Inject Custom JavaScript To Tweak Websites
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

'Brave Browser version 1.75 introduces "custom scriptlets," a new feature that allows advanced users to inject their own JavaScript into websites for enhanced customization, privacy, and usability. The feature is similar to the TamperMonkey and GreaseMonkey browser extensions, notes BleepingComputer. From the report: "Starting with desktop version 1.75, advanced Brave users will be able to write and inject their own scriptlets into a page, allowing for better control over their browsing experience," explained Brave in the announcement. Brave says that the feature was initially created to debug the browser's adblock feature but felt it was too valuable not to share with users. Brave's custom scriptlets feature can be used to modify webpages for a wide variety of privacy, security, and usability purposes. For privacy-related changes, users write scripts that block JavaScript-based trackers, randomize fingerprinting APIs, and substitute Google Analytics scripts with a dummy version. In terms of customization and accessibility, the scriptlets could be used for hiding sidebars, pop-ups, floating ads, or annoying widgets, force dark mode even on sites that don't support it, expand content areas, force infinite scrolling, adjust text colors and font size, and auto-expand hidden content. For performance and usability, the scriptlets can block video autoplay, lazy-load images, auto-fill forms with predefined data, enable custom keyboard shortcuts, bypass right-click restrictions, and automatically click confirmation dialogs. The possible actions achievable by injected JavaScript snippets are virtually endless. However, caution is advised, as running untrusted custom scriptlets may cause issues or even introduce some risk.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/25/02/10/2348258 Cheers, Peter

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This Keyboard Has A “SMOL” Key
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

The review claims this is the “world’s largest keyboard”. <https://www.tomshardware.com/peripherals/keyboards/im-typing-this-on-the-wo…>. It is supposedly inspired by the legendary “Space Cadet” keyboard from the 1980s <https://www.deviantart.com/default-cube/art/Space-Cadet-Keyboard-650629356>, and is certainly a wonder to behold. Yet with all the modifiers it does provide (look, they found room for *two* “Meta” keys, both on the right-hand side!), they somehow decided to omit any CTRL keys. Note on modifiers: “Meta” is commonly a synonym for “Alt”, while the “Super” key is usually mapped to the one with the Windows logo on it, for those still stuck in the Microsoft world. The “Hyper” moodifier has no equivalent on a conventional keyboard. These are all names well-established from the days of high-powered workstations running Unix or doing AI work with Lisp. But what the heck is the “SMOL” key supposed to do?

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Tails 6.12 Rolls Out, Sealing Critical Security Gaps
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

'The Tails project announced the release of its privacy-focused Linux distro, Tails 6.12, featuring vital security patches alongside an array of functional updates. According to the development team, several vulnerabilities were discovered during an external security audit by Radically Open Security. In light of this, perhaps the most noteworthy highlights in Tails 6.12 are the fixes preventing attackers from monitoring Tor circuits and altering Persistent Storage settings. Here are some more details about it. Tor Circuit Monitoring Prevention In earlier versions (up to Tails 6.11), vulnerabilities within Onion Circuits and the Tor Browser wrapper could have allowed a hostile actor—who had already hijacked a running application—to monitor or modify Tor connections, potentially revealing user identities. The Tails developers emphasize that there is no indication these flaws were exploited in the wild. Persistent Storage Security Enhancements Another fix addresses a loophole that, if exploited, could have allowed attackers with existing control of an application to change Persistent Storage settings. This patch ensures that user data in the Persistent Storage remains more securely locked down even in the unlikely event of a breach.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/tails-6-12-rolls-out-sealing-critical-security-gaps/ Cheers, Peter

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OpenWrt 24.10 Brings Kernel 6.6 and Initial WiFi 7 Support
by Peter Reutemann 11 Feb '25

11 Feb '25

'OpenWrt, a free and open-source Linux-based operating system primarily used for embedded devices, most notably residential gateways and routers, has just announced the first stable release of its 24.10 series. Most notable among the changes is the jump from Linux kernel 5.15 to 6.6 LTS, which promises better hardware support and long-term viability. Additionally, TLS 1.3 support is now standard in the default images, bolstering security capabilities for systems relying on encrypted connections. Another noteworthy improvement is the activation of POSIX Access Control Lists and file system security attributes on devices with larger flash memory sizes. Moreover, kernel support for Multipath TCP has been enabled on devices with greater storage capacity. Regarding wireless networking, OpenWrt 24.10 further refines WiFi6 (802.11ax) and adds initial, although still limited, support for WiFi7 (802.11be). Of course, each new release also expands device coverage, with OpenWrt 24.10 now supporting over 1,970 devices, adding compatibility for more than 100 new models compared to the previous release. And completely expected, their own OpenWrt One is now among them.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/openwrt-24-10-brings-kernel-6-6-and-initial-wifi-7-sup… Cheers, Peter

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How To Make Any AMD Zen CPU Always Generate 4 As a Random Number
by Peter Reutemann 10 Feb '25

10 Feb '25

'Google security researchers have discovered a way to bypass AMD's security, enabling them to load unofficial microcode into its processors and modify the silicon's behaviour at will. To demonstrate this, they created a microcode patch that forces the chips to always return 4 when asked for a random number. Beyond simply allowing Google and others to customize AMD chips for both beneficial and potentially malicious purposes, this capability also undermines AMD's secure encrypted virtualization and root-of-trust security mechanisms.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/25/02/09/2021244 Cheers, Peter

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Red Hat Plans to Add AI to Fedora and GNOME
by Peter Reutemann 05 Feb '25

05 Feb '25

'In his post about the future of Fedora Workstation, Christian F.K. Schaller discusses how the Red Hat team plans to integrate AI with IBM's open-source Granite engine to enhance developer tools, such as IDEs, and create an AI-powered Code Assistant. He says the team is also working on streamlining AI acceleration in Toolbx and ensuring Fedora users have access to tools like RamaLama. From the post: One big item on our list for the year is looking at ways Fedora Workstation can make use of artificial intelligence. Thanks to IBMs Granite effort we know have an AI engine that is available under proper open source licensing terms and which can be extended for many different usecases. Also the IBM Granite team has an aggressive plan for releasing updated versions of Granite, incorporating new features of special interest to developers, like making Granite a great engine to power IDEs and similar tools. We been brainstorming various ideas in the team for how we can make use of AI to provide improved or new features to users of GNOME and Fedora Workstation. This includes making sure Fedora Workstation users have access to great tools like RamaLama, that we make sure setting up accelerated AI inside Toolbx is simple, that we offer a good Code Assistant based on Granite and that we come up with other cool integration points. "I'm still not sure how I feel about this approach," writes designer/developer and blogger, Bradley Taunt. "While IBM Granite is an open source model, I still don't enjoy so much artificial 'intelligence' creeping into core OS development. This also isn't something optional on the end-users side, like a desktop feature or package. This sounds like it's going to be built directly into the core system." "Red Hat has been pushing hard towards AI and my main concern is having this influence other operating system dev teams. Luckily things seems AI-free in BSD land. For now, at least." ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/02/04/2047240 Cheers, Peter

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Framework Laptop’s RISC-V board for open source diehards is available for $199
by Peter Reutemann 05 Feb '25

05 Feb '25

'We've covered the Framework Laptop 13 primarily as a consumer Windows laptop, reviewing versions with multiple Intel and AMD processors. But the system's modular nature makes it possible to expand it beyond Windows PC hardware, as we've seen with experiments like the (now-discontinued) Chromebook Edition of the laptop. Today Framework is expanding to something even more experimental: a DeepComputing RISC-V Mainboard targeted primarily at developers. RISC-V is a fully open source and royalty-free instruction set, making it possible for anyone to adopt and use it without having to license it (unlike x86, which is a maze of cross-licensed Intel and AMD technologies that other companies can't really buy into; or Arm, which is licensed by the company of the same name). First announced in June 2024, the board is available to order today for $199. The board is designed to fit in a Framework Laptop 13 chassis, which means that people who would prefer a desktop can also put it into the $39 Cooler Master Mainboard Case that Framework offers. Made in concert with DeepComputing, the board uses a StarFive JH7110 processor with four 1.5 GHz SiFive U74 CPU cores. The board can officially run either Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or Fedora 41, with tech support provided by DeepComputing.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/framework-laptop-expands-beyond-x86… Cheers, Peter

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procfs -- Too Much Info
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Feb '25

04 Feb '25

What used to be a single proc(5) man page, documenting the contents of the /proc file system, has now been broken out into over a hundred separate pages. You can find them with man -s5 -k proc | grep ^proc

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Popular Linux orgs Freedesktop and Alpine Linux are scrambling for new web hosting
by Peter Reutemann 04 Feb '25

04 Feb '25

'In what is becoming a sadly regular occurrence, two popular free software projects, X.org/Freedesktop.org and Alpine Linux, need to rally some of their millions of users so that they can continue operating. Both services have largely depended on free server resources provided by Equinix (formerly Packet.net) and its Metal division for the past few years. Equinix announced recently that it was sunsetting its bare-metal sales and services, or renting out physically distinct single computers rather than virtualized and shared hardware. As reported by the Phronix blog, both free software organizations have until the end of April to find and fund new hosting, with some fairly demanding bandwidth and development needs. An issue ticket on Freedesktop.org's GitLab repository provides the story and the nitty-gritty needs of that project. Both the X.org foundation (home of the 40-year-old window system) and Freedesktop.org (a shared base of specifications and technology for free software desktops, including Wayland and many more) used Equinix's donated space. Equinix Metal "were very kind and generous with us and even if it's a shame we have to move out on a short notice, all things come to an end," writes Benjamin Tissoires, admin for the project, on the issue page. Tissoires lays out the project's needs—more than 400GB of database storage and close to 100TB of storage data—and a wishlist for new hosting.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/popular-linux-orgs-freedesktop-and-… Cheers, Peter

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Mozilla Adapts 'Fakespot' Into an AI-Detecting Firefox Add-on
by Peter Reutemann 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

'OMG Ubuntu reports: Want to find out if the text you're reading online was written by an real human or spat out by a large language model trying to sound like one? Mozilla's Fakespot Deepfake Detector Firefox add-on may help give you an indication. Similar to online AI detector tools, the add-on can analyse text (of 32 words or more) to identify patterns, traits, and tells common in AI generated or manipulated text. It uses Mozilla's proprietary ApolloDFT engine and a set of open-source detection models. But unlike some tools, Mozilla's Fakespot Deepfake Detector browser extension is free to use, does not require a signup, nor an app download. "After installing the extension, it is simple to highlight any text online and request an instant analysis. Our Detector will tell you right away if the words are likely to be written by a human or if they show AI patterns," Mozilla says. Fakespot, acquired by Mozilla in 2023, is best known for its fake product review detection tool which grades user-submitted reviews left on online shopping sites. Mozilla is now expanding the use of Fakespot's AI tech to cover other kinds of online content. At present, Mozilla's Fakespot Deepfake Detector only works with highlighted text on websites but the company says it image and video analysis is planned for the future. The Fakespot web site will also analyze the reviews on any product-listing pages if you paste in its URL.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/02/02/2156241 Cheers, Peter

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Facebook Flagging Linux Discussions as “Cybersecurity Threats”
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 03 Feb '25

03 Feb '25

Facebook is blocking posts and users that mention Linux, according to this report <https://www.tomshardware.com/software/linux/facebook-flags-linux-topics-as-…>. Distrowatch seems to have been the first to notice this, saying that many of its readers have reported trouble with Facebook. But the trouble is not confined to them. And when the site tried to report the issue, its complaint was firmly rejected, and the writer’s account was also locked. And yes, if you were wondering, doesn’t Facebook itself rely heavily on Linux? It does indeed: Facebook's overzealous ban on some Linux topics in the name of Community Standards and its protection of its users from threats come with a large ladle full of irony. "Facebook runs much of its infrastructure on Linux," DistroWatch points out, "and often posts job ads looking for Linux developers." My most charitable interpretation of this is some kind of over-reliance on automated AI-based procedures has got a bit out of hand ...

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Build-Your-Own Open-Source Laptop
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 28 Jan '25

28 Jan '25

Looking further back at the Tom’s Hardware articles, I found this one <https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/student-builds-open-source-laptop-in-6…> about a senior high-school student’s project to build his own laptop from off-the-shelf parts. Its core is a Raspberry-Pi competitor, it has a 4K display, and can manage 7 hours of battery life. The entire effort took six months. And the result doesn’t look too shabby, either.

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Linux 6.14 Brings Some Systems Faster Suspend and Resume
by Peter Reutemann 28 Jan '25

28 Jan '25

'Amid the ongoing Linux 6.14 kernel development cycle, Phoronix spotted a pull request for ACPI updates which "will allow for faster suspend and resume cycles on some systems." Wikipedia defines ACPI as "an open standard that operating systems can use to discover and configure computer hardware components" for things like power management and putting unused hardware components to sleep. Phoronix reports: The ACPI change worth highlighting for Linux 6.14 is switching from msleep() to usleep_range() within the acpi_os_sleep() call in the kernel. This reduces spurious sleep time due to timer inaccuracy. Linux ACPI/PM maintainer Rafael Wysocki of Intel who authored this change noted that it could "spectacularly" reduce the duration of system suspend and resume transitions on some systems... Rafael explained in the patch making the sleep change: "The extra delay added by msleep() to the sleep time value passed to it can be significant, roughly between 1.5 ns on systems with HZ = 1000 and as much as 15 ms on systems with HZ = 100, which is hardly acceptable, at least for small sleep time values." One 2022 bug report complained a Dell XPS 13 using Thunderbolt took "a full 8 seconds to suspend and a full 8 seconds to resume even though no physical devices are connected." In November an Intel engineer posted on the kernel mailing list that the fix gave a Dell XPS 13 a 42% improvement in kernel resume time (from 1943ms to 1127ms).' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/25/01/25/2343225 Cheers, Peter

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Could New Linux Code Cut Data Center Energy Use By 30%?
by Peter Reutemann 26 Jan '25

26 Jan '25

'Two computer scientists at the University of Waterloo in Canada believe changing 30 lines of code in Linux "could cut energy use at some data centers by up to 30 percent," according to the site Data Centre Dynamics. It's the code that processes packets of network traffic, and Linux "is the most widely used OS for data center servers," according to the article: The team tested their solution's effectiveness and submitted it to Linux for consideration, and the code was published this month as part of Linux's newest kernel, release version 6.13. "All these big companies — Amazon, Google, Meta — use Linux in some capacity, but they're very picky about how they decide to use it," said Martin Karsten [professor of Computer Science in the Waterloo's Math Faculty]. "If they choose to 'switch on' our method in their data centers, it could save gigawatt hours of energy worldwide. Almost every single service request that happens on the Internet could be positively affected by this." The University of Waterloo is building a green computer server room as part of its new mathematics building, and Karsten believes sustainability research must be a priority for computer scientists. "We all have a part to play in building a greener future," he said. The Linux Foundation, which oversees the development of the Linux OS, is a founder member of the Green Software Foundation, an organization set up to look at ways of developing "green software" — code that reduces energy consumption. Karsten "teamed up with Joe Damato, distinguished engineer at Fastly" to develop the 30 lines of code, according to an announcement from the university. "The Linux kernel code addition developed by Karsten and Damato was based on research published in ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review" (by Karsten and grad student Peter Cai). Their paper "reviews the performance characteristics of network stack processing for communication-heavy server applications," devising an "indirect methodology" to "identify and quantify the direct and indirect costs of asynchronous hardware interrupt requests (IRQ) as a major source of overhead... "Based on these findings, a small modification of a vanilla Linux system is devised that improves the efficiency and performance of traditional kernel-based networking significantly, resulting in up to 45% increased throughput..."' -- source: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/01/25/2111225 Cheers, Peter

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kiwix
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

Hi there Just stumbled across kiwix, an offline reader for things like Mediawiki (incl Wikipedia) and other books: https://kiwix.org/en/applications/ The library: https://library.kiwix.org/#lang=eng -- source: https://infosec.exchange/@Em0nM4stodon/113872764752277451 Cheers, Peter

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Wine 10.0 brings Arm Windows apps to Linux, still is not an emulator
by Peter Reutemann 23 Jan '25

23 Jan '25

'The open source Wine project—sometimes stylized WINE, for Wine Is Not an Emulator—has become an important tool for companies and individuals who want to make Windows apps and games run on operating systems like Linux or even macOS. The CrossOver software for Mac and Windows, Apple's Game Porting Toolkit, and the Proton project that powers Valve's SteamOS and the Steam Deck are all rooted in Wine, and the attention and resources put into the project in recent years have dramatically improved its compatibility and usefulness. Yesterday, the Wine project announced the stable release of version 10.0, the next major version of the compatibility layer that is not an emulator. The headliner for this release is support for ARM64EC, the application binary interface (ABI) used for Arm apps in Windows 11, but the release notes say that the release contains "over 6,000 individual changes" produced over "a year of development effort." ARM64EC allows developers to mix Arm and x86-compatible code—if you're making an Arm-native version of your app, you can still allow the use of more obscure x86-based plugins or add-ons without having to port everything over at once. Wine 10.0 also supports ARM64X, a different type of application binary file that allows ARM64EC code to be mixed with older, pre-Windows 11 ARM64 code. Wine's ARM64EC support does have one limitation that will keep it from working on some prominent Arm Linux distributions, at least by default: the release notes say it "requires the system page size to be 4K, since that is what the Windows ABI specifies." Several prominent Linux-on-Arm distributions default to a 16K page size because it can improve performance—when page sizes are smaller, you need more of them, and managing a higher number of pages can introduce extra CPU overhead.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/wine-10-0-released-adding-linux-com… Cheers, Peter

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TuxCare Stops Microsoft From Killing .NET 6.0
by Peter Reutemann 17 Jan '25

17 Jan '25

'TuxCare today announced that it’s added Microsoft’s .NET 6.0 to the roster of open-source platforms its supporting through its Endless Lifecycle Support program. This means that organizations that wish to continue using the platform, which reached end of life on Nov 12, 2024 and no longer receives updates, can continue to safely do so. TuxCare’s service will supply security patches for any vulnerabilities that arise in the software, just as it continues to patch long dead Linux distros. In times past, continuing to keep expired software in production was considered to be bad policy. These days, however, it’s becoming more common for sysadmins and DevOps teams to rely on services like TuxCare rather than go through the often frustrating and always time consuming and costly ordeal of upgrading, a process that often breaks essential secondary components which then have to be upgraded or fixed. When FOSS Force spoke with Joao Correia, a technical evangelist for both TuxCare and its parent company CloudLinux, he was quick to point out that supporting a product from Microsoft is something new, not only for TuxCare but for any of the companies that offer aftermarket support for expired open-source projects. “That’s somewhat of a departure in that we are now touching on proprietary Microsoft space which we hadn’t touched before,” he said. “At the same time, it’s an open-source project, and we have lots of experience with those types of projects and maintaining them.”' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/01/tuxcare-stops-microsoft-from-killing-net-6-0/ Cheers, Peter

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Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Now Works on the HiFive Premier P550 RISC-V Development Board
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jan '25

14 Jan '25

'Canonical, the company behind the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution, announced today that they’ve partnered with SiFive and ESWIN Computing to enable Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on the HiFive Premier P550 RISC-V development board. The HiFive Premier P550 is a RISC-V single-board computer powered by the ESWIN EIC7700X SoC with a SiFive Quad-Core P550 64-bit RISC-V processor running at 1.4 GHz and an integrated Imagination AXM-8-256 GPU supporting hardware accelerated video encoding up to 8K@25fps, hardware accelerated video decoding up to 8K@50fps, and hardware accelerated AI NPU with ~20 TOPS. The RISC-V board also features up to 32GB Samsung/Micron LPDDR5 RAM, 128GB Samsung eMMC storage, two 10/100/1000 Ethernet RJ45 connectors, a single Ethernet RJ45 connector for remote board management using dedicated MCU, an M.2 Key E connector for Wi-Fi / Bluetooth module, an HDMI 2.0 connector, a SATA 3 connector (6Gb/s), a JTAG Header, a microSD card connector, three fan headers, five USB 3 ports, and PCIe expansion slots. And the best thing for those who want to buy this 64-bit RISC-V development board for their projects is that it comes pre-installed with the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) operating system featuring the long-term supported and optimized Linux 6.6 LTS kernel series, which will receive updates until December 2026.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/ubuntu-24-04-lts-now-works-on-the-hifive-premier-p550… Cheers, Peter

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Debian 12.9 “Bookworm” Arrives with 72 Bug Fixes and 38 Security Updates
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jan '25

14 Jan '25

'Today, the Debian Project announced the release and general availability of Debian 12.9 as the eighth ISO update to the latest Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series. Coming a little over two months after Debian 12.8 and powered the Linux 6.1 LTS series, Debian 12.9 is the eighth point release of Debian Bookworm. Yes, eighth, because Debian 12.3 was never released due to an issue in the EXT4 file system leading to data corruption so it doesn’t count. As with previous updates, Debian 12.9 is here to provide updated installation media to those who want to deploy the latest Debian Bookworm operating system on new hardware and they had issues with previous Debian 12 versions or don’t want to download hundreds of updates from the repositories after the installation. In numbers, this new release includes a total of 72 bug fixes for miscellaneous packages and 38 security updates. Details about these security and miscellaneous bug fixes can be found on the release announcement page.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/debian-12-9-bookworm-arrives-with-72-bug-fixes-and-38… -- release: https://www.debian.org/News/2025/20250111 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Mastodon’s founder cedes control, refuses to become next Musk or Zuckerberg
by Peter Reutemann 14 Jan '25

14 Jan '25

'Mastodon announced Monday that it's shifting its structure over the next six months to become wholly owned by a European nonprofit organization—"affirming the intent that Mastodon should not be owned or controlled by a single individual." This takes control of the social network away from its previous "ultimate decision-maker," Eugen Rochko. As founder, Rochko initially took the reins to ensure the decentralized platform would never be for sale and "would be free of the control of a single wealthy individual." His grand vision remains to leave Mastodon users in control of the social network, making their own decisions about what content is allowed or what appears in their timelines. The news comes after leaders of other social networks, like Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, have sparked backlash over sudden changes to popular apps like Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). For years, Musk has drawn criticism for changing Twitter's hate speech policies through his X rebranding. And more recently, Zuckerberg this month defended Meta's decision to relax hate speech policies (permitting women to be called "property" and gay people to be called "mentally ill") by calling bans on such speech "out of touch with mainstream discourse." Mastodon is hoping to provide an alternative social network for users who are potentially frustrated with their lack of control over their timelines and content on other networks. But to achieve the "envisioned independence" for all users, Mastodon's structure needed to "evolve," the blog said, "as the community grew" to about 1.5 million monthly active users in 2023. Remaining headquartered in Europe primarily, Mastodon's day-to-day operations will be managed by the new European not-for-profit entity, "establishing a new legal home for Mastodon." The user experience on Mastodon won't be affected much by the transition to a nonprofit owner, Mastodon said. But "changes are definitely in the pipeline."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2025/01/mastodon-becomes-nonprofit-to-m… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Pilet: A Modular, Portable Mini-Computer Powered by Raspberry Pi
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jan '25

13 Jan '25

'Pilet is a retro-futuristic mini-computer that runs on the latest Raspberry Pi 5. It’s built to be fully modifiable, both in hardware and software, so you can escape the limitations of closed systems like iOS or Android. Pilet works with various Linux distributions and is compatible with Raspberry Pi OS out of the box. The team is also developing Pilet OS, a custom-optimized operating system for Pilet. Key Features of Pilet Here are some of Pilet's key features: - Raspberry Pi 5 Power: Pilet is powered by the Raspberry Pi 5, which offers a performance boost and supports advanced features like PCIe and NVMe storage. - Long Battery Life: With a 7-hour battery life, you can take your projects anywhere without being tied to a desk. - Open Source: Pilet is fully open source. After launch, the team will release schematics, PCB files, CAD files, and source code, so you can tweak and modify both the hardware and software. - Modular Design: Pilet’s modular design lets you add your own modules, like cameras, sensors, or even LTE connectivity. The team is also working on modules like NVMe and LTE. - VESA compatibility: Makes it easier and more secure to mount Pilet anywhere. - Active+passive cooling: A metal back combined with a fan keeps the Raspberry Pi 5 cool and running smoothly. - AI module support: Supports the Hailo-8L module, delivering 13 TOPS of processing power. - Rear stand: Allows users to position Pilet at any angle. - Custom battery management: Ensures stable performance even under demanding applications. - Simple and Practical: Pilet follows the KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) principle. It’s easy to use, with no extra drivers or complicated setups. All components are 3D-printable and customizable. Technical Specifications - Supported SBC: Raspberry Pi 5 - Power Source: 3.7V Lithium Polymer/Lithium-Ion Batteries, 5V USB-C - Screen: 5-inch or 7-inch IPS touchscreen - I/O: MicroHDMI (2x), USB 3.0 (2x), USB 2.0 (2x), Programmable GPIO - Network: Wi-Fi, LAN, Bluetooth 5.0, LTE (via module) - Storage: SD card, NVMe SSD (via module) - Dimensions: 175mm x 125mm x 28mm' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/pilet-modular-portable-mini-computer-powered-by-raspb… Looks funky! :-) Cheers, Peter

1 0

German router maker is latest company to inadvertently clarify the LGPL license
by Peter Reutemann 13 Jan '25

13 Jan '25

'The GNU General Public License (GPL) and its "Lesser" version (LGPL) are widely known and used. Still, every so often, a networking hardware maker has to get sued to make sure everyone knows how it works. The latest such router company to face legal repercussions is AVM, the Berlin-based maker of the most popular home networking products in Germany. Sebastian Steck, a German software developer, bought an AVM Fritz!Box 4020 (PDF) and, being a certain type, requested the source code that had been used to generate certain versions of the firmware on it. According to Steck's complaint (translated to English and provided in PDF by the Software Freedom Conservancy, or SFC), he needed this code to recompile a networking library and add some logging to "determine which programs on the Fritz!Box establish connections to servers on the Internet and which data they send." But Steck was also concerned about AVM's adherence to GPL 2.0 and LGPL 2.1 licenses, under which its FRITZ!OS and various libraries were licensed. The SFC states that it provided a grant to Steck to pursue the matter. AVM provided source code, but it was incomplete, as "the scripts for compilation and installation were missing," according to Steck's complaint. This included makefiles and details on environment variables, like "KERNEL_LAYOUT," necessary for compilation. Steck notified AVM, AVM did not respond, and Steck sought legal assistance, ultimately including the SFC. Months later, according to the SFC, AVM provided all the relevant source code and scripts, but the suit continued. AVM ultimately paid Steck's attorney fee. The case proved, once again, that not only are source code requirements real, but the LGPL also demands freedom, despite its "Lesser" name, and that source code needs to be useful in making real changes to firmware—in German courts, at least. "The favorable result of this lawsuit exemplifies the power of copyleft—granting users the freedom to modify, repair, and secure the software on their own devices," the SFC said in a press release. "Companies like AVM receive these immense benefits themselves. This lawsuit reminded AVM that downstream users must receive those very same rights under copyleft."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/suing-wi-fi-router-makers-remains-a… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux Foundation bands together Chromium browser makers in a “neutral space”
by Peter Reutemann 10 Jan '25

10 Jan '25

'Supporters of Chromium-Based Browsers sounds like a very niche local meetup, one with hats and T-shirts that barely fit the name. But it's really a "neutral space" for funding and support, corralling together some big names with a stake in the future of Chrome's open source roots, Chromium. The Linux Foundation, a nonprofit started in 2000 that has grown to support a broader range of open source projects, spurred the initiative. In a press release, the Foundation states that the project will allow "industry leaders, academia, developers, and the broader open source community" to work on Chromium, with "much-needed funding and development support for open development of projects." A few names you don't often see together are already on board: Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Opera. Krystian Kolondra, executive vice president of browsers at Opera, stated in a release that "as one of the major browsers contributing to the Chromium project," Opera would "look forward to collaborating with members of the project to foster this growth and keep building innovative and compelling products for all users." How will this work? Kind of how Chromium has been working already. The group will have an open governance model, according to the Foundation, based on other Foundation initiatives based on "transparency, inclusivity, and community-driven development." The Linux Foundation's structure supports Kubernetes, Node.js, RISC-V, ONAP, and, of course, Linux, in such a manner. A Technical Advisory Committee will ensure the work done in the group "meets the needs of the wider Chromium community." Otherwise, the Chromium projects will keep to their existing governance structures.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/01/google-meta-microsoft-and-opera-agr… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Red Hat In-Vehicle Linux Gets Closer to Go With New Certification
by Peter Reutemann 09 Jan '25

09 Jan '25

'There was good news on Monday for the futures of Linux in general and Red Hat in particular in the automotive sector. Less than six months after Red Hat announced that the Linux math library — a fundamental component of Red Hat In-Vehicle Operating System — achieved ISO 26262 ASIL-B functional safety certification, it’s announced the achievement of functional safety certification of mixed criticality. All of this may sound like mumbo jumbo, which it is a bit, but it’s important mumbo jumbo as far as Red Hat’s efforts to build a turnkey open-source solution for software defined automobiles are concerned. And no matter how convoluted it sounds, this is not only good for Red Hat; it’s good for Linux. The keyword phrase in Red Hat’s announcement is “mixed criticality,” which basically means that Red Had has certified that its in-vehicle OS can safely execute several applications of different criticality –in this case safety-critical and non-safety critical — on the same system-on-chip running a single operating system.' -- source: https://fossforce.com/2025/01/red-hat-in-vehicle-linux-gets-closer-to-go-wi… Cheers, Peter

1 0

"Make The Terminal More Enjoyable with These Linux Terminal Tools"
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

The following tools are mentioned in the article linked below: - tldr - btop - mc - zoxide - ripgrep - tmux - fzf - bat -- source: https://www.maketecheasier.com/linux-terminal-tools/ I'm quite liking btop and I've mc in the past when having only console access and requiring a two-panel file-manager. Cheers, Peter

2 1

Here’s the Most Popular Databases for 2024
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

'The DB-Engines ranking of the most popular database management systems for January 2025 is now available. It features data from the past 12 months’ popularity trends for 423 databases, thus highlighting the platforms that dominated the data management scene over the past 2024. From traditional relational databases to modern NoSQL solutions, the list provides clear insights into trends in the tech sector, particularly in data storage and processing. Here’s a quick look at who came out on top and who fell short. Unsurprisingly, Oracle holds the top spot as the leading database, dominating the enterprise sector for many years. MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB complete the top five. Among them, MongoDB stands out as the sole NoSQL database in the group, while the other four represent the leading stars of the RDBMS segment.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/most-popular-databases-for-2024/ Cheers, Peter

2 1

Time to check if you ran any of these 33 malicious Chrome extensions
by Peter Reutemann 07 Jan '25

07 Jan '25

'As many of us celebrated the year-end holidays, a small group of researchers worked overtime tracking a startling discovery: At least 33 browser extensions hosted in Google’s Chrome Web Store, some for as long as 18 months, were surreptitiously siphoning sensitive data from roughly 2.6 million devices. The compromises came to light with the discovery by data loss prevention service Cyberhaven that a Chrome extension used by 400,000 of its customers had been updated with code that stole their sensitive data.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/01/dozens-of-backdoored-chrome-extens… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Setting Application Menu Shortcut
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 24 Dec '24

24 Dec '24

So after my last Debian Unstable upgrade, I am now running KDE Plasma 6 as my desktop. KDE Plasma, by default, brings up its application menu if you press and release what it calls the “Meta” (more commonly “Super” or “Windows”) modifier key. I have this disabled because I use Meta/Super instead of Alt as the modifier key for moving windows around; and I did that switch to avoid interfering with the use of the Alt-click function in Blender. Previously, I did this change to Meta/Super behaviour by editing a config file called ~/.config/kwinrc. But now, this has been unified with the rest of the system settings, and can be controlled through the same interface <https://www.lorenzobettini.it/2024/06/modifier-only-shortcuts-in-kde-plasma…> (excuse the ads).

1 0

Home Assistant's New Voice Assistant Answers To 'Hey Jarvis'
by Peter Reutemann 20 Dec '24

20 Dec '24

'Home Assistant (not to be confused with the Google Assistant on Google Home) has launched the Voice Preview Edition (Voice PE), its first dedicated voice assistant hardware for $59. The device offers a privacy-focused, locally controlled solution that supports over 50 languages and integrates seamlessly with the open-source smart home platform. As The Verge notes, Voice PE supports the wake words "Hey Jarvis" right out of the box. From the report: The Voice PE is a small white box, about the size of your palm, with dual microphones and an audio processor. An internal speaker lets you hear the assistant, but you can also connect a speaker to it via a 3.5 mm headphone jack for better-quality media playback. A colored LED ring on top of the Voice PE indicates when the assistant is listening. It surrounds a rotary dial and a physical button, which is used for setup and to talk to the voice assistant without using the wake word. The button can also be customized to do whatever you want (because this is Home Assistant). A physical mute switch is on the side, and the device is powered by USB-C (charger and cable not included). There's also a Grove port where you can add sensors and other accessories. For those who don't like the idea of always-listening microphones in their home from companies such as Amazon and Google, but who still want the convenience of controlling their home with their voice, the potential here is huge. But it may be a while until Voice PE is ready to replace your Echo or Nest smart speaker. [...] if you want more features, Voice PE can connect to supported AI models, such as ChatGPT or Gemini, to fully replace Assist or use it as a fallback for commands it doesn't understand. But for many smart home users, there will be plenty of value in a simple, inexpensive device that lets you turn your lights on and off, start a timer, and execute other useful commands with your voice without relying on an internet connection. ' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/12/19/231255 Cheers, Peter

1 0

vim and files from gvfs mounted file systems
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

Hi everyone Since upgrading to Linux Mint 22 Wilma and vim 9.1.x, I noticed an issue with vim when editing remote files (eg mounted via sftp through caja): saving the file would fail. Not ideal... Looks like there is an issue with gvfs mounted file systems: https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/5309 https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/5237#issuecomment-1366262853 Disabling the creation of backup files avoids the issue: :set backupcopy=no Or, if you want to automate it based on path, you can place the following in your .vimrc: autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile /run/user/* set backupcopy=no Cheers, Peter

1 0

TP-Link faces possible US ban as hijacked routers fuel Chinese attacks
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

'US government authorities are reportedly investigating whether to ban TP-Link wireless routers, which have been targeted in some high-profile attacks linked to the Chinese government. TP-Link, which was founded in China in 1996 and said it relocated its headquarters to the US in October this year, has racked up significant market share in US homes and businesses. US authorities are investigating whether TP-Link "poses a national-security risk and are considering banning the devices," The Wall Street Journal reported today. The WSJ notes that TP-Link is "the top choice on Amazon.com, and powers Internet communications for the Defense Department and other federal government agencies."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/12/report-us-considers-banning-tp-… Maybe time to flash your TP-Link router with something like OpenWRT? https://openwrt.org/toh/start Cheers, Peter

1 0

Australia Moves To Drop Some Cryptography By 2030
by Peter Reutemann 19 Dec '24

19 Dec '24

'Australia's chief cyber security agency has decided local orgs should stop using the tech that forms the current cryptographic foundation of the internet by the year 2030 -- years before other nations plan to do so -- over fears that advances in quantum computing could render it insecure. The Land Down Under's plans emerged last week when the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) published guidance for High Assurance Cryptographic Equipment (HACE) -- devices that send and/or receive sensitive information -- that calls for disallowing the cryptographic algorithms SHA-256, RSA, ECDSA and ECDH, among others, by the end of this decade. Bill Buchanan, professor in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University, wrote a blog post in which he expressed shock that the ASD aims to move so quickly. "Basically, these four methods are used for virtually every web connection that we create, and where ECDH is used for the key exchange, ECDSA or RSA is used to authenticate the remote server, and SHA-256 is used for the integrity of the data sent," he wrote. "The removal of SHA-256 definitely goes against current recommendations."' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/12/18/173242 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Xfce 4.20 Desktop Environment Released with Experimental Wayland Support
by Peter Reutemann 17 Dec '24

17 Dec '24

'Two years after the release of Xfce 4.18, Xfce 4.20 is here as another major update to this light and fast desktop environment for GNU/Linux distributions. Xfce 4.20 is packed with lots of new features and improvements like experimental support for Wayland with support for the Labwc and Wayfire compositors, improved support for HiDPI displays, and libxfce4windowing as a new abstraction library to present windowing concepts in a windowing-system-independent manner. Wayland sessions of Xfce can be started with the startxfce4 --wayland command. However, you should keep in mind that several Xfce components don’t run at all on Wayland, including the Xfwm4 window manager, Xfdashboard, Xfce4-screensaver, Xfce4-windowck-plugin, and Xfce4-xkb-plugin. “So far Xfce does not feature a compositor which supports Wayland. If you want to run Xfce in Wayland, Labwc and Wayfire will give you the best results,” said the Xfce development team. “Plans are underway to add Wayland support to Xfwm4 while preserving its existing X11 functionality. However, such a restructurization will be a major effort and we cannot tell yet when/if it will be done, so please don’t hold your breath waiting for it.”' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/xfce-4-20-desktop-environment-released-with-experimen… Cheers, Peter

1 0

How to Share Your Linux Terminal Over the Web Using Ttyd
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '24

16 Dec '24

Looks like an interesting project: 'Ttyd is a simple tool that allows you to share a Linux terminal over a web browser. It’s cross-platform and uses the libuv and WebGL2 Javascript APIs for performance and real-time connection between the browser and Linux terminal. The SSL support is offered by OpenSSL. It supports multiple clients at once, allowing multiple clients to connect to the same Linux terminal from different browsers (or tabs). No additional package is required on the client-side, only the correct web address is needed. You can use this tool for remote system administration, troubleshooting, assisting a friend with any specific task, debugging or recovering a process, and much more.' -- source: https://linuxtldr.com/installing-ttyd/ Cheers, Peter

3 2

Let's Encrypt Announces New-Certificate-Every-6-Days Offering
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '24

16 Dec '24

'The non-profit, free certificate authority Let's Encrypt shared some news from their executive director as they approach their 10th anniversary in 2025: Internally things have changed dramatically from what they looked like ten years ago, but outwardly our service hasn't changed much since launch. That's because the vision we had for how best to do our job remains as powerful today as it ever was: free 90-day TLS certificates via an automated API. Pretty much as many as you need. More than 500,000,000 websites benefit from this offering today, and the vast majority of the web is encrypted. Our longstanding offering won't fundamentally change next year, but we are going to introduce a new offering that's a big shift from anything we've done before — short-lived certificates. Specifically, certificates with a lifetime of six days. This is a big upgrade for the security of the TLS ecosystem because it minimizes exposure time during a key compromise event. Because we've done so much to encourage automation over the past decade, most of our subscribers aren't going to have to do much in order to switch to shorter lived certificates. We, on the other hand, are going to have to think about the possibility that we will need to issue 20x as many certificates as we do now. It's not inconceivable that at some point in our next decade we may need to be prepared to issue 100,000,000 certificates per day. That sounds sort of nuts to me today, but issuing 5,000,000 certificates per day would have sounded crazy to me ten years ago... It was hard to build Let's Encrypt. It was difficult to scale it to serve half a billion websites... Charitable contributions from people like you and organizations around the world make this stuff possible. Since 2015, tens of thousands of people have donated. They've made a case for corporate sponsorship, given through their Donor-Advised Funds, or set up recurring donations, sometimes to give $3 a month. That's all added up to millions of dollars that we've used to change the Internet for nearly everyone using it.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/12/15/0059216 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Banan OS: A Fully Functional Unix-like OS Built From Scratch In C++
by Peter Reutemann 16 Dec '24

16 Dec '24

'A student has built an entire operating system from scratch in C++. Yes, you read that right! Meet Banan OS, a hobbyist operating system for x86_64 and i686 architectures, written entirely in C++ by an university student Oskari Alaranta. The project is fully independent, with all code written exclusively by Alaranta, except for any ported software.' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/banan-os-a-fully-functional-linux-os-built-from-scrat… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Raspberry Pi 500 Brings All-in-One PC Power to Your Desk for Just $90
by Peter Reutemann 13 Dec '24

13 Dec '24

'Just in time for the holiday season, Raspberry Pi has launched two highly anticipated products that promise to revolutionize compact computing. Enter the Raspberry Pi 500 and the official Raspberry Pi Monitor, designed to provide a sleek and complete desktop experience at an exceptionally affordable price. Raspberry Pi’s mission has always been clear: to provide affordable, programmable personal computers to people worldwide. Over the years, this vision has expanded as the company has grown into one of the leading manufacturers of industrial and embedded computers. For example, products like the $15 Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W and the flagship Raspberry Pi 5 have demonstrated the company’s ability to cater to both cost-conscious and performance-driven audiences. Let’s also not forget that just two weeks ago, the company announced another exciting product, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5, specifically designed for embedded applications. And now, building on the success of the Raspberry Pi 400, the newly launched Raspberry Pi 500 takes compact computing to the next level. Combining the high-performance Raspberry Pi 5 platform with an all-in-one form factor, this device offers exceptional power and versatility: - Processor: 2.4GHz quad-core 64-bit Arm Cortex-A76 - Memory: 8GB LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM - Graphics: VideoCore VII GPU, supporting OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.3 - Display Outputs: Dual 4Kp60 HDMI - Connectivity: Dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, and Gigabit Ethernet - Ports: 2 USB 3.0, 1 USB 2.0 - GPIO Connector: Horizontal 40-pin Raspberry Pi GPIO' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/raspberry-pi-500-announced/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

AMD’s trusted execution environment blown wide open by new BadRAM attack
by Peter Reutemann 11 Dec '24

11 Dec '24

'One of the oldest maxims in hacking is that once an attacker has physical access to a device, it’s game over for its security. The basis is sound. It doesn’t matter how locked down a phone, computer, or other machine is; if someone intent on hacking it gains the ability to physically manipulate it, the chances of success are all but guaranteed. In the age of cloud computing, this widely accepted principle is no longer universally true. Some of the world’s most sensitive information—health records, financial account information, sealed legal documents, and the like—now often resides on servers that receive day-to-day maintenance from unknown administrators working in cloud centers thousands of miles from the companies responsible for safeguarding it. In response, chipmakers have begun baking protections into their silicon to provide assurances that even if a server has been physically tampered with or infected with malware, sensitive data funneled through virtual machines can’t be accessed without an encryption key that’s known only to the VM administrator. Under this scenario, admins inside the cloud provider, law enforcement agencies with a court warrant, and hackers who manage to compromise the server are out of luck. On Tuesday, an international team of researchers unveiled BadRAM, a proof-of-concept attack that completely undermines security assurances that chipmaker AMD makes to users of one of its most expensive and well-fortified microprocessor product lines. Starting with the AMD Epyc 7003 processor, a feature known as SEV-SNP—short for Secure Encrypted Virtualization and Secure Nested Paging—has provided the cryptographic means for certifying that a VM hasn’t been compromised by any sort of backdoor installed by someone with access to the physical machine running it. If a VM has been backdoored, the cryptographic attestation will fail and immediately alert the VM admin of the compromise. Or at least that’s how SEV-SNP is designed to work. BadRAM is an attack that a server admin can carry out in minutes, using either about $10 of hardware, or in some cases, software only, to cause DDR4 or DDR5 memory modules to misreport during bootup the amount of memory capacity they have. From then on, SEV-SNP will be permanently made to suppress the cryptographic hash attesting its integrity even when the VM has been badly compromised. “BadRAM completely undermines trust in AMD's latest Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV-SNP) technology, which is widely deployed by major cloud providers, including Amazon AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure,” members of the research team wrote in an email. “BadRAM for the first time studies the security risks of bad RAM—rogue memory modules that deliberately provide false information to the processor during startup. We show how BadRAM attackers can fake critical remote attestation reports and insert undetectable backdoors into _any_ SEV-protected VM.”' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/12/new-badram-attack-ne… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux Mint Dethrones MX Linux As the Most Popular Distro On DistroWatch
by Peter Reutemann 11 Dec '24

11 Dec '24

'Linux Mint has reclaimed its position as the top-ranked Linux distribution on DistroWatch, dethroning MX Linux. The latest page hit rankings, which reflect the popularity of distributions among DistroWatch users, place Linux Mint in first place with 2,412 hits per day. MX Linux, previously the reigning champ, now sits in second with 2,280 hits.' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/12/10/1754230 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux Kernel 6.12 Confirmed As LTS, Will Be Supported For 'Multiple Years'
by Peter Reutemann 10 Dec '24

10 Dec '24

'Renowned Linux kernel developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced Thursday that the Linux 6.12 kernel series has been officially marked as LTS (Long Term Support) on the kernel.org website with a predicted life expectancy of at least two years. Linux kernel 6.12 was released on November 17th, 2024, and introduces new features like real-time "PREEMPT_RT" support, a new scheduler called sched_ext, and DRM panic messages as QR codes, as well as numerous new and updated drivers for better hardware support... Linux kernel 6.12 joins the many other long-term support kernel branches, namely Linux 6.6 LTS, Linux 6.1 LTS, Linux 5.15 LTS, Linux 5.10 LTS, and Linux 5.4 LTS. Apart from the latter, the rest of them, including Linux kernel 6.12, will be officially supported until the end of December 2026. Hopefully, Linux kernel 6.12 will be supported for more than two years as the kernel maintainers usually aim for four years of support for a new LTS kernel, especially if there's demand from hardware manufacturers and other companies that aim to use a long-term supported kernel in their devices. ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/12/09/0125219 Cheers, Peter

1 0

migration of wlug list
by Peter Reutemann 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

Hi everyone Thanks to Elliot Hathaway from TechnologyWise working hard behind the scenes, we now have an alternative mailman instance to keep our wlug mailing list going forward. As a reminder, the university server will be shut down next week Friday, December 13th. Thanks to Daniel Lawson, a former WLUG president, and now owner of the wlug.org.nz domain, the list will be a sub-domain under the wlug.org.nz domain. What is next? On Monday, December 9th, we will do a final migration of members and archives from the current mailman instance to the new one. Once that is done, you will receive an invitation to subscribe to the new list. If you want to continue using the list, then please accept it. This might also be a good opportunity to revisit your password and replace it with a strong one (passwords won't be migrated!). I will then make a final post on the old mailing list that the migration has finished with a link to the new one (just in case your invitation ended up in spam). After that, the old mailing list will be disabled, i.e., members removed and no longer accepting new member sign-ups. Have a good weekend! Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ Mobile +64 22 190 2375 https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/peter.reutemann http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Linux Making Inroads In PC Gaming
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 06 Dec '24

06 Dec '24

You’d think that PC gaming was the last nearly unassailable bastion in the Windows world, where potential users who were willing to consider Linux would be few and far between. Reinforcing this idea, Valve tried to bring out its Linux-based “SteamOS” a few years ago, and failed. But then, the Steam Deck pioneered a new market segment, namely PC gaming in a handheld form factor. And here, Valve has found success with Linux -- to the point where the Windows-based competitors look overpriced and underperforming -- in short, just plain clunky. This in spite of the natural advantage of Windows in offering better compatibility with games specifically written for Windows. Now we hear that Valve is having another try at offering SteamOS for third-party hardware <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/12/the-return-of-steam-machines-valve-r…>. The article suggests, and I strongly suspect it is so, that this is to allow those competitors to the Steam Deck to offer a better OS than Windows on their products. Some of them have already made noises to this effect. The Steam Deck is already so far ahead of its Windows-based competitors, that offering serious competition to the Steam Deck will only leave Windows further behind in the lurch -- further cementing the dominance of Linux in this new market segment.

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testing the new list
by Peter Reutemann 05 Dec '24

05 Dec '24

blah blah blah -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ Mobile +64 22 190 2375 https://profiles.waikato.ac.nz/peter.reutemann http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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Trying Out Bluesky
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 04 Dec '24

04 Dec '24

Just signed up at Bluesky <https://bsky.app/> earlier this morning. Did some searches for stuff on Python, Blender, Linux, NZ etc. Already got into reasonably civil discussions with a bunch of people on related topics, and got some likes on my comments. Feels a lot like Twitter from, say, a decade ago. No doubt there are topics with much greater traffic than those I’ve mentioned. Possibly even some loonies and other questionable content, if you look hard enough. This seems to be a Fediverse-type system, connected via open-source protocols/software. I think there are people running their own servers, it’s not all on bluesky.social.

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OpenStreetMap Migrates To Debian 12 For Enhanced Performance
by Peter Reutemann 04 Dec '24

04 Dec '24

'OpenStreetMap (OSM), the collaborative project to create a free and open map of the world, has migrated its servers to Debian 12 (Bookworm) after 18 years on Ubuntu. This transition brings with it a number of benefits, including improved speed and closer ties with the Debian community. Why the Switch? The decision to migrate was driven by a number of factors, with performance being a key consideration. OSM's infrastructure relies heavily on physical hardware, and the team encountered significant I/O performance issues with certain kernel versions on systems using NVMe storage. Debian 12 offered a solution by allowing the installation of backported kernels, effectively resolving these performance bottlenecks. Another motivating factor was the desire to align more closely with the maintainers of the software packages that OSM relies on. Debian boasts a strong reputation for package maintenance, and many Debian maintainers are deeply invested in the software they support, ensuring prompt attention to critical bugs. A Smooth Transition The migration process was facilitated by OSM's infrastructure management practices. Their server setup is largely code-driven, and rigorous testing is performed using tools like Test Kitchen and Inspec. By adding Debian as a test target platform, the team was able to identify and address any compatibility issues early on. The required code changes were relatively minor, primarily involving adjustments to package names and configuration filenames. The transition involved the following key steps: - Frontend Server Migration: OSM successfully migrated its frontend servers to Debian 12, resulting in a Ruby version upgrade from 3.0 to 3.1. This upgrade allowed for a corresponding upgrade to the Ruby on Rails framework used for the www.openstreetmap.org website. - Networking Management Shift: OSM transitioned from using netplan, the default network management tool in Ubuntu, to systemd-networkd, Debian's preferred tool. This change streamlined network management across both Ubuntu and Debian systems, ensuring consistency. - Custom Package Management: OSM adopted aptly to manage their own Debian package repository. This shift from Ubuntu's Personal Package Archives (PPA) was driven by the need to manage pre-release or custom patches of OSM software. A Shared Community The move to Debian also reflects the strong overlap between the OSM and Debian communities. Many OSM contributors are also active within the Debian ecosystem, fostering a shared understanding and collaborative spirit.' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/openstreetmap-migrates-to-debian-12-for-enhanced-perf… Cheers, Peter

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Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Launches as a Modular Version of Raspberry Pi 5
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '24

02 Dec '24

'The Raspberry Pi Foundation announced today the general availability of Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 as the fifth update to their Raspberry Pi CM (Compute Module) series. Designed as a modular version of the Raspberry Pi 5 single-board computer, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 is powered by a 2.4GHz Quad-Core 64-bit ARM Cortex-A76 processor and it’s available with 2GB, 4GB, or 8GB of LPDDR4X-4267 SDRAM memory, as well as with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of MLC eMMC storage. Raspberry Pi CM 5 also comes with a powerful VideoCore VII graphics card supporting OpenGL ES 3.1 and Vulkan 1.3 standards, a 4Kp60 HEVC decoder, dual 4Kp60 HDMI display output, 2 × 4-lane MIPI camera/display transceivers, and 30 GPIOs supporting 1.8V or 3.3V operation. Connectivity-wise, the Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 supports a PCIe 2.0 x1 interface for fast peripherals, two USB 3.0 interfaces for supporting simultaneous 5Gbps operation, Gigabit Ethernet with IEEE 1588 support, and optional dual-band 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 5.0. The Raspberry Pi CM5 IO board features a standard 40-pin GPIO connector, two full-size HDMI 2.0 connectors, two 4-lane MIPI DSI/CSI-2 FPC connectors, two USB 3.0 connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet jack with PoE+ support, an M.2 M-key PCIe socket, a microSD card socket, an RTC battery socket, and a 4-pin fan connector. Despite its small design, Raspberry Pi CM 5 also supports various peripherals, including UART, SPI, I2C, I2S, SDIO, and PWM. On top of that, Compute Module 5 is mechanically compatible with its predecessor, Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, but provides additional stability with four M2.5 mounting holes at the corners of the board.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/raspberry-pi-compute-module-5-launches-as-a-modular-v… Cheers, Peter

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Code found online exploits LogoFAIL to install Bootkitty Linux backdoor
by Peter Reutemann 02 Dec '24

02 Dec '24

'Researchers have discovered malicious code circulating in the wild that hijacks the earliest stage boot process of Linux devices by exploiting a year-old firmware vulnerability when it remains unpatched on affected models. The critical vulnerability is one of a constellation of exploitable flaws discovered last year and given the name LogoFAIL. These exploits are able to override an industry-standard defense known as Secure Boot and execute malicious firmware early in the boot process. Until now, there were no public indications that LogoFAIL exploits were circulating in the wild. The discovery of code downloaded from an Internet-connected web server changes all that. While there are no indications the public exploit is actively being used, it is reliable and polished enough to be production-ready and could pose a threat in the real world in the coming weeks or months. Both the LogoFAIL vulnerabilities and the exploit found on-line were discovered by Binarly, a firm that helps customers identify and secure vulnerable firmware.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/11/code-found-online-exploits-logofai… Cheers, Peter

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GIMP 3.0 - a Milestone For Open-Source Image Editing
by Peter Reutemann 30 Nov '24

30 Nov '24

'The long-awaited release of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) 3.0 is on the way, marking the first major update since version 2.10 was released in April 2018. It now features a GTK 3 user interface and GIMP 3.0 introduces significant changes to the core platform and plugins. This release also brings performance and usability improvements, as well as more compatibility with Wayland and complex input sources. GIMP 3.0 is the first release to use GTK 3, a more modern foundation than the GTK 2 base of prior releases. GTK 4 has been available for a few years now, and is on the project's radar, but the plan was always to finish the GTK 3 work first. Moving to GTK 3 brings initial Wayland compatibility and HiDPI scaling. In addition, this allows for GIMP users to take advantage of multi-touch input, bringing pinch-to-zoom gestures to the program, and offering a better experience when working with complex peripherals, such as advanced drawing tablets. These features were not previously possible due to the limitations of GTK 2. A secondary result of the transition to GTK 3 is a refreshed user interface (UI), now with support for CSS themes included. In this release, four themes are available by default, including light, dark, and gray themes, along with a high-contrast theme for users with visual impairments. Additionally, this release has transitioned to using GTK's header bar component, typically used to combine an application's toolbar and title bar into one unit. To maintain familiarity with previous releases, however, GIMP 3.0 still supports the traditional menu interface.' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/29/134239/ Cheers, Peter

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Both KDE and GNOME To Offer Official Distros
by Peter Reutemann 30 Nov '24

30 Nov '24

'KDE and GNOME have decided that because they're not big and complicated enough already, they might work better if they have their own custom distributions underneath. What's the worst that could happen? A talk from this year's KDE conference, Akademy 2024, looks like it's going to become real. The talk, by KDE developer Harald Sitter, was entitled An Operating System of Our Own, and the idea sounds simple enough: Sitter proposed an official KDE Linux distribution. Now the proposal is gathering steam and a plan is coming together for an official KDE Linux -- codenamed "Project Banana."' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/29/2055220 Cheers, Peter

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file browser
by Peter Reutemann 26 Nov '24

26 Nov '24

Hi there Today, I decided to finally switch my default file browser to krusader: https://krusader.org/ For a number of years, I've been using double-commander: https://doublecmd.sourceforge.io/ Mostly, I was quite happy with double-commander, as it had my preferred two-panel approach for managing files (I frequently copy files between various directories around for testing models etc). The two-panel approach was something I came to appreciate back in the DOS days when using the Norton Commander. With Double-commander I could also have an arbitrary number of tabs within a panel. The function buttons at the bottom (rename/copy/view/terminal/etc) were also quite handy when using the mouse. And, very importantly, Double-commander is available for Windows as well. However, remote access via sftp was quite slow (viewing and copying files) and that's when I had to fall back on caja, as it had a much higher throughput. Compared to caja, krusader is much faster when listing remote files. Waiting around for caja to refresh a few thousand files was taking way too long (sometimes up to 30 seconds). That's what gave me the final push to make the switch (on my development machine). Double-commander will still be my go-to tool for Windows machines. Anyway, what is your preferred file browser? Cheers, Peter

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g: An Elegant Alternative for the ls Command in Linux
by Peter Reutemann 25 Nov '24

25 Nov '24

Hi everyone Just came across this post: '“g” is a free and open-source cross-platform alternative to the ls command, offering more advanced features than any other alternative, such as what “exa” can provide. The developer named this tool “g” because it’s written in Go, and “g” is simply easy to remember. It offers various ways to customize output, multiple ways to layout the output, integrated support for Git, advanced sorting mechanisms, fuzzy path matching, and hyperlink support.' -- source: https://linuxtldr.com/g-alternative-of-the-ls-command/ Looks like an interesting alternative. :-) Cheers, Peter

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Red Hat is Becoming an Official Microsoft 'Windows Subsystem for Linux' Distro
by Peter Reutemann 24 Nov '24

24 Nov '24

'You can use any Linux distribution inside of the Windows Subsystem for Linux" Microsoft recently reminded Windows users, "even if it is not available in the Microsoft Store, by importing it with a tar file." But being an official distro "makes it easier for Windows Subsystem for Linux users to install and discover it with actions like wsl --list --online and wsl --install," Microsoft pointed out this week. And "We're excited to announce that Red Hat will soon be delivering a Red Hat Enterprise Linux WSL distro image in the coming months..." Thank you to the Red Hat team as their feedback has been invaluable as we built out this new architecture, and we're looking forwards to the release...! Ron Pacheco, senior director, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Ecosystem, Red Hat says: "Developers have their preferred platforms for developing applications for multiple operating systems, and WSL is an important platform for many of them. Red Hat is committed to driving greater choice and flexibility for developers, which is why we're working closely with the Microsoft team to bring Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the largest commercially available open source Linux distribution, to all WSL users." Read Pacheco's own blog post here. But in addition Microsoft is also releasing "a new way to make WSL distros," they announced this week, "with a new architecture that backs how WSL distros are packaged and installed." Up until now, you could make a WSL distro by either creating an appx package and distributing it via the Microsoft Store, or by importing a .tar file with wsl -import. We wanted to improve this by making it possible to create a WSL distro without needing to write Windows code, and for users to more easily install their distros from a file or network share which is common in enterprise scenarios... With the tar based architecture, you can start with the same .tar file (which can be an exported Linux container!) and just edit it to add details to make it a WSL distro... These options will describe key distro attributes, like the name of the distro, its icon in Windows, and its out of box experience (OOBE) which is what happens when you run WSL for the first time. You'll notice that the oobe_command option points to a file which is a Linux executable, meaning you can set up your full experience just in Linux if you wish. ' -- source: https://tech.slashdot.org/story/24/11/23/0251245 Cheers, Peter

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Ubuntu Linux Impacted By Decade-Old 'needrestart' Flaw That Gives Root
by Peter Reutemann 21 Nov '24

21 Nov '24

'Five local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerabilities in the Linux utility "needrestart" -- widely used on Ubuntu to manage service updates -- allow attackers with local access to escalate privileges to root. The flaws were discovered by Qualys in needrestart version 0.8, and fixed in version 3.8. BleepingComputer reports: Complete information about the flaws was made available in a separate text file, but a summary can be found below: - CVE-2024-48990: Needrestart executes the Python interpreter with a PYTHONPATH environment variable extracted from running processes. If a local attacker controls this variable, they can execute arbitrary code as root during Python initialization by planting a malicious shared library. - CVE-2024-48992: The Ruby interpreter used by needrestart is vulnerable when processing an attacker-controlled RUBYLIB environment variable. This allows local attackers to execute arbitrary Ruby code as root by injecting malicious libraries into the process. - CVE-2024-48991: A race condition in needrestart allows a local attacker to replace the Python interpreter binary being validated with a malicious executable. By timing the replacement carefully, they can trick needrestart into running their code as root. - CVE-2024-10224: Perl's ScanDeps module, used by needrestart, improperly handles filenames provided by the attacker. An attacker can craft filenames resembling shell commands (e.g., command|) to execute arbitrary commands as root when the file is opened. - CVE-2024-11003: Needrestart's reliance on Perl's ScanDeps module exposes it to vulnerabilities in ScanDeps itself, where insecure use of eval() functions can lead to arbitrary code execution when processing attacker-controlled input. The report notes that attackers would need to have local access to the operation system through malware or a compromised account in order to exploit these flaws. "Apart from upgrading to version 3.8 or later, which includes patches for all the identified vulnerabilities, it is recommended to modify the needrestart.conf file to disable the interpreter scanning feature, which prevents the vulnerabilities from being exploited," adds BleepingComputer.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/11/21/0057206 Cheers, Peter

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Linux Kernel 6.12 Has Been Released
by Peter Reutemann 18 Nov '24

18 Nov '24

'Slashdot unixbhaskar writes: Linus has released a fresh Linux kernel for public consumption. Please give it a try and report any glitches to the maintainers for improvement. Also, please do not forget to express your appreciation to those tireless folks who did all the hard work for you. The blog OMG Ubuntu calls it "one of the most biggest kernel releases for a while," joking that it's a "really real-time kernel." The headline feature in Linux 6.12 is mainline support for PREEMPT_RT. This patch set dramatically improves the performance of real-time applications by making kernel processes pre-emptible — effectively enabled proper real-time computing... Meanwhile, Linus Torvalds himself contributes a new method for user-space address masking designed to claw back some of the performance lost due to Spectre-v1 mitigations. You might have heard that kernel devs have been working to add QR error codes to Linux's kernel panic BSOD screen (as a waterfall of error text is often cut off and not easily copied for ad-hoc debugging). Well, Linux 6.12 adds support for those during Direct Rendering Manager panics... A slew of new RISC-V CPU ISA extensions are supported in Linux 6.12; hybrid CPU scaling in the Intel P-State driver lands ahead of upcoming Intel Core Ultra 2000 chips; and AMD P-State driver improves AMD Boost and AMD Preferred Core features. More coverage from the blog 9to5Linux highlights a new scheduler called sched_ext, Clang support (including LTO) for nolibc, support for NVIDIA's virtual command queue implementation for SMMUv3, and "an updated cpuidle tool that now displays the residency value of cpuidle states for a clearer and more detailed view of idle state information when using cpuidle-info." Linux kernel 6.12 also introduces SWIG bindings for libcpupower to make it easier for developers to write scripts that use and extend the functionality of libcpupower, support for translating normalized error addresses reported by an AMD memory controller into system physical addresses using a UEFI mechanism called platform runtime mechanism (PRM), as well as simplified loading of microcode patches on AMD Zen and newer CPUs by using the family, model, and stepping encoded in the patch revision number... Moreover, Linux 6.12 adds support for running as a protected guest on Android as well as perf and support for a bunch of new interconnect PMUs. It also adds the final conversions to the new Intel VFM CPU model matching macros, rewrites the PCM buffer allocation handling and locking optimizations, and improves the USB audio driver... ' -- source: https://linux.slashdot.org/story/24/11/18/0142252 Cheers, Peter

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mailing list alternatives
by Peter Reutemann 18 Nov '24

18 Nov '24

Hi everyone Here is a list of all the potential options for having the WLUG mailing list continue in some form after the University of Waikato will shut down their mailman instance next month: 1. TechnologyWise would support us and host it at Catalyst (Wellington) Type: unspecified (since general hosting, could be mailman?) Comment: TW ran the BOP LUG that way 2. Linux Australia (https://lists.linux.org.au/mailman/listinfo) Type: mailman (open-source) Comment: not yet contacted whether they'd be open to it 3. Don Gould Type: unspecified (has FLOSS platform, so could be mailman) 4. NZOSS Type: discourse (open-source, at community.iridescent.nz) Comment: unlikely to migrate archives 5. Outlook Groups option Type: MS Outlook (proprietary) Comment: just email distribution, probably no archives In terms of WLUG list archives... I've experimented with hypermail (https://github.com/hypermail-project/hypermail) and was able to turn the 53MB mbox file containing all our posts from the last 25 years into 183MB of HTML. That way, we can at least ensure that the old content doesn't get lost completely. I also talked to Daniel Lawson, who's hosting the old WLUG website and wiki. Though he is not keen on managing mail (bit of a nightmare nowadays according to him), he'd be willing to host the HTML version of the archives. Please reply to this post with your preferred option(s) by Saturday night (e.g., "1" or "1 3 4"). On Sunday, I will then create a final tally (hopefully). Thanks again for your suggestions! Cheers, Peter

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New systemd update will bring Windows’ infamous Blue Screen of Death to Linux
by Peter Reutemann 18 Nov '24

18 Nov '24

'Windows' infamous "Blue Screen of Death" is a bit of a punchline. People have made a hobby of spotting them out in the wild, and in some circles, they remain a byword for the supposed flakiness and instability of PCs. To this day, networked PCs in macOS are represented by beige CRT monitors displaying a BSOD. But the BSOD is supposed to be a diagnostic tool, an informational screen that technicians can use to begin homing in on the problem that caused the crash in the first place; that old Windows' BSOD error codes were often so broad and vague as to be useless doesn't make the idea a bad one. Today, version 255 of the Linux systemd project honors that original intent by adding a systemd-bsod component that generates a full-screen display of some error messages when a Linux system crashes. The systemd-bsod component is currently listed as "experimental" and "subject to change." But the functionality is simple: any logged error message that reaches the LOG_EMERG level will be displayed full-screen to allow people to take a photo or write it down. Phoronix reports that, as with BSODs in modern Windows, the Linux version will also generate a QR code to make it easier to look up information on your phone.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/12/linux-distros-are-about-to-get-a-ki… Cheers, Peter -- Peter Reutemann Dept. of Computer Science University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ Mobile +64 22 190 2375 https://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/~fracpete/ http://www.data-mining.co.nz/

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European alternatives to US services
by Peter Reutemann 13 Nov '24

13 Nov '24

Hi everyone For people who are thinking of maybe switching US-based services, below is a list of European alternatives: https://european-alternatives.eu/ Came across this on Mastodon: https://mastodon.social/@sturmsucht/113470149047788406 Of course, the AlternativeTo site is always worth checking out as well: https://alternativeto.net/ Cheers, Peter

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Debian 12.8 “Bookworm” Released with 68 Bug Fixes and 50 Security Updates
by Peter Reutemann 13 Nov '24

13 Nov '24

'The Debian Project announced today the release and general availability of Debian 12.8 as the seventh ISO update to the latest Debian GNU/Linux 12 “Bookworm” operating system series. Powered by a newer kernel in the Linux 6.1 LTS series, Debian 12.8 is here a little over two months after Debian 12.7 as the seventh point release of Debian Bookworm. Yes, seventh, because Debian 12.3 was never released due to an issue in the EXT4 file system leading to data corruption so it doesn’t count. Debian 12.8 provides those who want to deploy the latest Debian Bookworm operating system on new hardware an up-to-date installation media where they won’t have to download hundreds of updates from the repositories after the installation. In numbers, this new release includes a total of 68 bug fixes for miscellaneous packages and 50 security updates. Details about these security and miscellaneous bug fixes can be found on the release announcement page.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/debian-12-8-bookworm-released-with-68-bug-fixes-and-5… Cheers, Peter

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decommissioning of mailman server
by Peter Reutemann 11 Nov '24

11 Nov '24

Hi everyone Just received word from the university that, as part of their continuing move to proprietary Microsoft services, they are decommissioning their mailman server instance by December 13th and only university-related lists will be moved to an MS service. This, of course, will affect our WLUG mailing list. Any ideas where to go to? Google Groups*? Other free hosting sites for such a low-traffic list? Cheers, Peter * Not sure about import options (posts/members).

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Re: B. Eagle Burt added you to the wlug_digest group
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 10 Nov '24

10 Nov '24

Hosted at Microsoft? Oh, the irony. No, thank you.

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Re: wlug Digest, Vol 401, Issue 4
by Ron Dean 09 Nov '24

09 Nov '24

I still like to read the digest very seldom have I posted anynthing On Sat, Nov 9, 2024 at 12:00 AM <wlug-request(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> wrote: > Send wlug mailing list submissions to > wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via email, send a message with subject or > body 'help' to > wlug-request(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > You can reach the person managing the list at > wlug-owner(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of wlug digest..." > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: decommissioning of mailman server (DL Neil) > 2. Re: decommissioning of mailman server (Peter Reutemann) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2024 10:07:55 +1300 > From: DL Neil <NZLUG(a)etelligence.info> > Subject: [wlug] Re: decommissioning of mailman server > To: wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > Message-ID: <a81bf0e4-072a-4013-9b49-66d1e9f0231e(a)etelligence.info> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed > > > -------- Original message -------- > > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)gmail.com>... > > continuing move to proprietary Microsoft services, they are > > decommissioning their mailman server instance by December 13th and > > only university-related lists will be moved to an MS service. This, of > > course, will affect our WLUG mailing list. > > Decommission: long overdue and not up-to-snuff with today's email-world! > > MSFTing: a continuing disappointment, as it's not a real improvement anyway > > > > Any ideas where to go to? Google Groups*? Other free hosting sites for > > such a low-traffic list? > > > Think it may be possible through NZOSS - will make enquiries and revert... > > > On 8/11/24 09:33, Don Gould wrote: > > Do you have a domain name for Wellington lug? > > Oops! > > > -- > Regards =dn > > > -- > Regards =dn > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Fri, 8 Nov 2024 10:45:27 +1300 > From: Peter Reutemann <fracpete(a)gmail.com> > Subject: [wlug] Re: decommissioning of mailman server > To: wlug List <wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz> > Message-ID: > <CAHoQ12JfoXKwy2qxKxMdoD-hU7SM= > 5Tsxgo6Ei1CSNY9DbXJ3Q(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" > > > Just received word from the university that, as part of their > > continuing move to proprietary Microsoft services, they are > > decommissioning their mailman server instance by December 13th and > > only university-related lists will be moved to an MS service. This, of > > course, will affect our WLUG mailing list. > > > > Any ideas where to go to? Google Groups*? Other free hosting sites for > > such a low-traffic list? > > Thanks for the great feedback so far everyone! > > Important factors for me would be: > - hosted in NZ > - free of charge (we no longer have a charity associated) > - mailman-based or at least support for importing mailman archives > > Please keep the suggestions coming. Early next week, I will compile a > list from the offered solutions and you can show your support for the > various options. > > Cheers, Peter > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > wlug mailing list -- wlug(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > To unsubscribe send an email to wlug-leave(a)list.waikato.ac.nz > > > ------------------------------ > > End of wlug Digest, Vol 401, Issue 4 > ************************************ > -- Ron Dean Unit 61 Village Gardens 16 Rototuna Road Hamilton 3210 New Zealand Home 64 7 8493904 Mob 02102259172

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GIMP 3.0 Release Candidate Is Now Available for Public Testing
by Peter Reutemann 07 Nov '24

07 Nov '24

'The development team behind the popular GIMP open-source image editing software announced today the general availability of the Release Candidate (RC) milestone of the highly anticipated GIMP 3.0 release. Featuring a much-refined interface, GIMP 3.0 introduces massive improvements to color management, a stable public API to allow porting of plug-ins and scripts from the GIMP 2.10 series, support for loading layers from TIFF files saved in the Autodesk Sketchbook format, and support for 64 bits per pixel images for the BMP format. GIMP 3.0 also promises improvements to non-destructive editing by introducing an optional “Merge Filters” checkbox at the bottom of NDE filters that merges down the filter immediately after it’s committed, along with non-destructive filters on layer groups and the implementation of storing version of filters in GIMP’s XCF project files. “This will allow us to update filters in the future without impacting how older project files look when they’re opened. Additional work will be needed in GEGL to fully implement this feature, but that can be done after 3.0 without impacting existing project files,” said the devs. Among other noteworthy changes, the updated UI of GIMP 3.0 allows the use of the mouse scroll wheel to flip through different dockable dialogue tabs, GEGL and babl components have been updated with new features and many improvements, such as Inner Glow, Bevel, and GEGL Styles filters, and some plugins saw small enhancements. On top of all that, GIMP 3.0 also comes with a new logo, a new splash screen, improvements to the legacy icon theme to look great on HiDPI screens, and the ability to export images with different settings while leaving the original image unchanged.' -- source: https://9to5linux.com/gimp-3-0-release-candidate-is-now-available-for-publi… Cheers, Peter

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Linux Mint and Framework Laptops Join Forces
by Peter Reutemann 07 Nov '24

07 Nov '24

'Linux Mint and Framework Laptops Join Forces The October 2024 edition of Linux Mint’s Monthly News brings exciting updates, including a significant announcement about collaboration with Framework Laptops, having potential to advance Mint’s compatibility with hardware designed with flexibility, repairability, and sustainability in mind. For those unfamiliar, unlike most traditional laptops, which are often difficult or impossible to repair or upgrade, Framework laptops are built to be user-friendly, making it easy to replace or upgrade components. This modular approach extends the laptop’s lifespan and promotes sustainability by reducing e-waste. According to Clement Lefebvre, the driving force behind the Linux Mint project, the team recently received Framework’s Laptop 13, and initial impressions are promising. But more importantly, this partnership could open new avenues for Linux Mint, allowing the development team to work with advanced components and technologies featured in Framework’s offerings that haven’t previously been on the project’s radar. Of course, this also means that if compatibility progresses smoothly, Linux Mint could confidently recommend Framework Laptops to its community without hesitation. As Lefebvre noted, the full review of the Laptop 13 will be available in next month’s update, but early sentiments are already positive. Apart from that, the Linux Mint team is currently working on integrating Night Light support into the Cinnamon desktop environment, thus aiming to reduce eye strain for its users. Furthermore, efforts are ongoing to migrate key Cinnamon dialogs to Clutter, enhancing functionality and design. This includes familiar dialogs like the one used to unlock keyrings or confirm display settings.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/linux-mint-and-framework-laptops-join-forces/ Cheers, Peter

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How to Use Syntax Highlighting in Nano Editor
by Peter Reutemann 07 Nov '24

07 Nov '24

I thought, the following tutorial on how to enable syntax highlighting in nano would be quite a useful one for people commonly using that editor: 'Nano is a simple and user-friendly command-line text editor for Linux, which is often used for basic text editing tasks, such as creating and editing configuration files, scripts, or simple documents. However, many users don’t know that Nano supports syntax highlighting, which can make editing code files easier by coloring different parts of the text (like keywords, variables, and comments) for better visibility. This guide will explain how to enable syntax highlighting in Nano to make your coding experience smoother and more efficient.' -- source: https://www.tecmint.com/nano-editor-syntax-highlighting/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

KDE’s New Distro: Btrfs-Based, Immutable Linux OS, with Flatpak and Snap
by Peter Reutemann 04 Nov '24

04 Nov '24

'Surprises never end. The KDE project is about to take a bold step by introducing its own Linux distribution. Here’s what it’s all about. Introduced at Akademy 2024, KDE Linux (codenamed “Project Banana”) is a brand-new, still-in-development initiative by the KDE devs to bring a seamless, user-friendly experience that merges KDE software’s reliability and rich interface with cutting-edge Linux technologies. Immediately, we want to clarify that this isn’t a rebranded version of the well-known KDE Neon developed by the KDE community. KDE Linux is an entirely new project with a completely different technical approach under the hood and ambitious goals for both developers and end users. The distro is designed to be a bulletproof, highly user-friendly operating system that showcases the best of KDE technology—a system that KDE can confidently recommend to casual users and hardware manufacturers. With an eye on simplicity, the OS will use Btrfs for its file system and introduce an image-based (immutable) approach, allowing users to easily switch between different OS versions, ensuring a secure, flexible experience without the stress of traditional system management. KDE Linux will feature rolling OS updates based on snapshot releases and employs systemd-boot with custom theming. All mutable data, such as user home directories and cache locations, is encrypted for enhanced security. Moreover, the architecture also includes an image-based A/B update mechanism with rollback capabilities and a recovery partition for added resilience. Users can benefit from an automatic backup system using Btrfs snapshots, which includes a user-friendly GUI similar to Apple’s Time Machine. Using Arch as a base, KDE Linux aims to attract a broad audience, including KDE developers, enthusiasts, and hardware vendors. It will include applications from Flatpak (and possibly Snap), helping to keep the core system and applications separate for greater stability.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/kde-announced-its-kde-linux-distro/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Local Privilege Escalation Vulnerability Affecting X.Org Server For 18 Years
by Peter Reutemann 30 Oct '24

30 Oct '24

'Phoronix's Michael Larabel reports: CVE-2024-9632 was made public today as the latest security vulnerability affecting the X.Org Server. The CVE-2024-9632 security issue has been present in the codebase now for 18 years and can lead to local privilege escalation. Introduced in the X.Org Server 1.1.1 release back in 2006, CVE-2024-9632 affects the X.Org Server as well as XWayland too. By providing a modified bitmap to the X.Org Server, a heap-based buffer overflow privilege escalation can occur. This security issue is within _XkbSetCompatMap() and stems from not updating the heap size properly and can lead to local privilege escalation if the server is run as root or as a remote code execution with X11 over SSH.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/10/29/2029233 Cheers, Peter

1 0

Debian's "secret" sauce
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '24

29 Oct '24

'While Debian's "sauce" is not actually all that secret, it is not particularly well-known either, Samuel Henrique said at the start of his DebConf24 talk. There is a lot of software-engineering effort that has been put in place by the distribution in order to create and maintain its releases, but ""loads of people are not aware"" of it. That may be due to the fact that all of that is not really documented anywhere in a central location that he can just point someone to. Recognizing that is what led him to give the talk; hopefully it will be a ""first step toward"" helping solve the problem. Henrique said that he is a Brazilian and has been a Debian Developer since 2018. He mostly works in the security tools packaging team, but also maintains some packages outside of that team, including curl and rsync. In addition, he mentors Debian newcomers, mostly on packaging tasks. He works on the Amazon Linux security team. He noted that his web site contains links to the slides from the talk; a WebM video is also available. [Update: A YouTube video with subtitles in English and Portuguese is also available.]' -- source: https://lwn.net/Articles/990177/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Discovering the Joys of E-Books with Calibre
by Ben Cottrell 29 Oct '24

29 Oct '24

I was lucky to come across a collection of Cybersecurity E-Books on Humble Bundle, spending around 40 NZD to receive 21 books. After paying for and downloading the books, the PDF’s weren’t named tidily, so I decided to use Calibre to organize my collection. Calibre categorized the books under author subdirectories and named them by title nicely. It couldn’t open the PDF’s itself, it does a good job cataloguing. Do you have any favourite tools or scripts for managing E-Books? Please let me know 😊 Cheers, Ben

2 1

Raspberry Pi OS’s yearslong switch from X Window to Wayland is now official
by Peter Reutemann 29 Oct '24

29 Oct '24

'There have been times when it seemed like X Window System would be with us forever, even though it's more than 40 years old, and the last true version was issued in 2012. But with great effort, some organizations and operating systems have moved on. Raspberry Pi has now joined the forward momentum, with its latest release of Raspberry Pi OS swapping in Wayland—and it's hoping the change is hardly noticeable. You might want to wait a moment before upgrading, though. Simon Long wrote on Raspberry Pi's blog that the organization started thinking about switching to Wayland about 10 years ago, though it was "nowhere near ready to use" back then. Over the last few years, the Pi team has done some things to prep a real switch: - Used mutter as an X window manager in 2021's Bullseye release because it could also be used as a Wayland compositor - Switched from mutter to wayfire in 2023's Bookworm release and made Wayland the default for Raspberry Pi 4 and 5 - Switched one last time to labwc, which better fit Raspberry Pi's graphics hardware than wayfire Because labwc is built on wlroots, a modular system that allows for building a Wayland compositor without whole-cloth reinvention, it was easier to adapt to Raspberry Pi's needs. After efforts throughout 2024, the team is ready to call it the year of Wayland on Raspberry Pi desktops. "After much optimisation for our hardware, we have reached the point where labwc desktops run just as fast as X on older Raspberry Pi models," Long wrote. "Today, we make the switch with our latest desktop image: Raspberry Pi Desktop now runs Wayland by default across all models."' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/raspberry-pi-oss-years-long-switch-… Cheers, Peter

1 0

AI Scams In The Knitting And Crochet World
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 26 Oct '24

26 Oct '24

I suppose if you spend much time in online software support forums, you’ve come across the newbie who asked an AI to generate some code for them, and then asks for help to figure out why it didn’t work. But did you know that knitting and crochet patterns are like computer code, too? And that people are using AI to generate those? And that the same problems of quality control are afflicting them? Unlike computer software, where once you track down the bug, you can usually fix just that one line and run the code again, a flaw in a knitting or crochet pattern can require you to throw away hours of work, unpicking your way back to the point where the flaw was introduced, before you can fix it and continue from that point again. And food recipes are becoming infested with AI rubbish as well. Here you might be tricked into following some interesting-looking recipe, perhaps quite complicated, only to end up with an inedible, revolting mess, and money wasted on all the ingredients, as well as time wasted doing the work. <https://www.zdnet.com/article/ai-scams-have-infiltrated-the-knitting-and-cr…>

1 0

ISC DHCP Server Replaced By Kea
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Oct '24

19 Oct '24

I just discovered that the DHCP server I’ve been using at home <https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/10/finally-upgrading-fr…> officially reached EOL two years ago, and has been replaced by a new package, rewritten from the ground up, called Kea. Seems the old code base was just getting too convoluted and creaky and too hard to maintain. Of course there are tools to assist the migration to the new way of doing things.

1 0

5 Stand-Out LibreOffice Features That Make It My Go-To Office Suite
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 17 Oct '24

17 Oct '24

From <https://www.zdnet.com/home-and-office/work-life/5-stand-out-libreoffice-fea…>: Customizable GUI: For example, when writing a novel, I want the sidebar always readily available because I need quick access to formatting options. If I'm working on a more traditional document, I might go with the tabbed UI. For spreadsheets, I want the simplest UI that I can use, such as the contextual single UI. LibreOffice makes this possible, with the ability to switch between a standard toolbar, tabbed, single toolbar, sidebar, tabbed compact, groupedbar compact, and contextual single. You can even make changes to different tools, which allows you to have one UI for Writer, one for Calc, and one for Presents. Customizable styles: What I like about this feature is that it allows me to get very granular with the styles, even to the point where I can define what style comes next, how drop caps are handled, transparency, borders, indents & spacing, text flow, font, position, highlights, much more. No AI: (what more needs to be said?) Microsoft Office compatibility: For a while, I was writing everything in Google Docs; that is, until one of my editors complained of incompatibility issues (even when exporting to the .docx format with Docs). Once I switched from Google Docs to LibreOffice (for my fiction writing), those issues all went away. Document export: LibreOffice document export allows you to export your Writer documents to XHTML, PDF, EPUB, MediaWiki, Writer Indexing Export XML, JPEG, Writer Layout XML, PNG, and WEBP. You can also save as ODF, ODF Template, Flat XML, Unified Office Format, Word 2010-365, Word 2007, Word 2007 Template, Word 2003 XML, Rich Text, Word 97-2003, and other types. If there's a format you need, more than likely LibreOffice can export it. ... I can also ask what version of MS Office a collaborator is using and make sure to export it to the most compatible version. Because, you know, even Microsoft Office cannot manage 100% compatibility with Microsoft Office ...

1 0

Resetting USB Controllers After Error
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 16 Oct '24

16 Oct '24

I was doing my semi-regular backup of some core essential files onto USB sticks today, and hit an error writing to one of the sticks (I replaced it with a spare). However, the error left the USB on my main machine in a strange state: it still thought the bad USB stick was present on the bus, even though it had been removed. And also my USB audio interface stopped working (though thankfully not my mouse or keyboard). I found the “usbreset” utility program. Trying to reset the nonexistent device of course returned an error that it did not exist. It listed three USB hubs, and I thought if I reset the one that the stick had been connected to, that might work. I was able to reset two of the hubs, but it hung on the third one (very likely the source of the problem). And the problem remained unfixed. I thought I was going to have to reboot my machine. Then, after hunting around online, I found this little shell script <https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/704341/how-to-reset-usb-controllers>, which finds all your USB controller interfaces and tells them to “unbind”, and then “rebind”, all devices attached to each. And that worked! I have my 5.1 USB audio working again! Of course, I can’t guarantee it’ll work for you, if you hit a similar problem, but I figure, how could it hurt to try? ;)

1 0

Juice TV Hiccup
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Currently when I switch to FreeView Channel 200, it shows a frozen image with the text “Cinegy” and “Demo Version” on it. Searching for that name takes me to a site that talks about “software defined television”. Either their product licence has expired, or they never had one in the first place ...

2 3

BBS Pioneer Ward Christensen Has Died
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 15 Oct '24

15 Oct '24

Ward Christensen, co-inventor of the first computer-based Bulletin Board System, and creator of XMODEM, the first file-transfer protocol designed to work over noisy phone lines (both in the late 1970s), has passed away at the age of 78. He never made a big deal out of his pioneering achievements, and always kept a modest profile in his personal life. <https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/10/ward-christensen-bbs-inventor-and-a…>

1 0

If I Buy Something, Do I Own It?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 12 Oct '24

12 Oct '24

For some reason, it was never considered deceptive for shops to advertise themselves as “selling” CDs and tapes and videocassettes and DVDs and video games; if you bothered to ask, you discovered that what you were buying was a “licence” to use the product, not ownership of the product as such. Well, that’s changing, at least in some places. The US state of California has now decreed that not mentioning this distinction between “licence” and “ownership” constitutes false advertising, so vendors had better make it clear <https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2024/10/steam-now-reminds-you-that-it-really…>. In case customers get upset at discovering something they should have realized before, the article ends with the reassuring words: So long as Steam lasts forever, however, this new language should not be that alarming.

1 0

Thousands of Linux systems infected by stealthy malware since 2021
by Peter Reutemann 04 Oct '24

04 Oct '24

'Thousands of machines running Linux have been infected by a malware strain that’s notable for its stealth, the number of misconfigurations it can exploit, and the breadth of malicious activities it can perform, researchers reported Thursday. The malware has been circulating since at least 2021. It gets installed by exploiting more than 20,000 common misconfigurations, a capability that may make millions of machines connected to the Internet potential targets, researchers from Aqua Security said. It can also exploit CVE-2023-33426, a vulnerability with a severity rating of 10 out of 10 that was patched last year in Apache RocketMQ, a messaging and streaming platform that’s found on many Linux machines. Perfctl storm The researchers are calling the malware Perfctl, the name of a malicious component that surreptitiously mines cryptocurrency. The unknown developers of the malware gave the process a name that combines the perf Linux monitoring tool and ctl, an abbreviation commonly used with command line tools. A signature characteristic of Perfctl is its use of process and file names that are identical or similar to those commonly found in Linux environments. The naming convention is one of the many ways the malware attempts to escape notice of infected users. Perfctl further cloaks itself using a host of other tricks. One is that it installs many of its components as rootkits, a special class of malware that hides its presence from the operating system and administrative tools. Other stealth mechanisms include: - Stopping activities that are easy to detect when a new user logs in - Using a Unix socket over TOR for external communications - Deleting its installation binary after execution and running as a background service thereafter - Manipulating the Linux process pcap_loop through a technique known as hooking to prevent admin tools from recording the malicious traffic - Suppressing mesg errors to avoid any visible warnings during execution. The malware is designed to ensure persistence, meaning the ability to remain on the infected machine after reboots or attempts to delete core components. Two such techniques are (1) modifying the ~/.profile script, which sets up the environment during user login so the malware loads ahead of legitimate workloads expected to run on the server and (2) copying itself from memory to multiple disk locations. The hooking of pcap_loop can also provide persistence by allowing malicious activities to continue even after primary payloads are detected and removed. Besides running using the machine resources to mine cryptocurrency, Perfctl also turns the machine into a profit-making proxy that paying customers use to relay their Internet traffic. Aqua Security researchers have also observed the malware serving as a backdoor to install other families of malware.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/10/persistent-stealthy-linux-malware-… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Mozilla Thunderbird Lands On Android With New Beta Release
by Peter Reutemann 02 Oct '24

02 Oct '24

'The popular open-source email client, Mozilla Thunderbird, has just launched a beta version of its Android app. This release, version 8.0b1, is available as a pre-release with a range of new features and improvements. Here are some notable features, improvements and bug fixes in Thunderbird for Android 8.0b1 (beta) version: 1. Thunderbird for Android Branding: This beta release introduces the official Thunderbird for Android branding, moving away from its previous identity as K-9 Mail. 2. Updated Design: Users will immediately notice the updated design language, with a Material 3 navigation drawer and a refreshed colour scheme.It's important to 3. Migration Made Easy: For those already using K-9 Mail or a previous Thunderbird for Android build, migrating settings to the new version is now a seamless process. 4. Under the Hood Improvements: This beta release incorporates the Glean SDK for improved data collection and analysis. Additionally, the groundwork for supporting financial contributions through Google Play subscriptions has been laid. 5. Enhanced Security and Privacy: When encrypting email subjects, the app now uses "[…]" for the outer subject, bolstering privacy. 6. Simplified Settings: The "Move/copy destination folders" and "Folders to search" settings have been removed for a cleaner user experience. 7. Focus on Stability and Performance: Significant refactoring has been done to critical areas such as the message list, accounts, and folders, improving maintainability and performance. Numerous bug fixes also address crashes and other issues. 8. Open Source and Community Driven: Thunderbird for Android remains committed to open-source development, welcoming contributions from the community. The project uses the Apache License, Version 2.0. 9. Known Issues: Be mindful that the settings import feature may display apps that don't yet support it, leading to unsuccessful imports.' -- source: https://ostechnix.com/thunderbird-lands-on-android-with-new-beta-release/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Mozilla's massive lapse in judgement causes clash with uBlock Origin developer
by Peter Reutemann 02 Oct '24

02 Oct '24

'Software developers who publish their products on third-party stores face all kinds of problems sometimes. From rejected apps or extensions to removed products or unjustified claims about them. Raymond "gorhill" Hill, maker of the world's most popular content blocker uBlock Origin received two emails from Mozilla recently about his Firefox add-on uBlock Origin Lite. Good to know: uBlock Origin Lite is a Manifest V3-compatible version of the content blocker. It is less powerful, but since Google is disabling Manifest V2 support in Chrome, it is what will remain from uBlock Origin for Chromium-based browsers. Mozilla says that it has reviewed the extension and found violations. The following claims were made: - The extension is not asking for consent for data collecting. - The extension contains "minified, concatenated or otherwise machine-generated code". - There is no privacy policy. As a consequence, Mozilla disabled the extension on the Firefox Add-ons Store. Hill refuted all three claims that Mozilla made on the GitHub repository stating that the extension is not collecting any data, that there is no minified code in uBlock Origin Lite, and that there is a privacy policy. He admitted further that he does not "have the time or motivation to spend time on this nonsense" and won't react to the allegations made or appeal the decision.' -- source: https://www.ghacks.net/2024/10/01/mozillas-massive-lapse-in-judgement-cause… Cheers, Peter

1 0

I'm using Windows at the moment: what's keeping me back
by Ben Cottrell 01 Oct '24

01 Oct '24

Hi, I'm using Windows 11 on my Lenovo ThinkBook 16p Gen 2, with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, and an AMD Ryzen 5600H (with integrated Radeon graphics). In the past I've distro hopped, and here were my experiences. I've stuck with Windows because NVIDIA has still not fully committed to supporting the standards needed for Wayland. OpenSUSE Tumbleweed: The first distro that properly worked with UEFI secure booting, in terms of enrolling keys. NVIDIA's drivers would not be loaded by the kernel unless the keys were enrolled. Ubuntu: Good default GTK theme. Good beginner distro. Installing NVIDIA drivers is a little easier than OpenSUSE. NixOS: Cutting edge, and allowed me to run certain applications to run with GPU acceleration. Easy to rollback system wide changes, but I couldn't really grasp their config language. I'm not sure if the issue is down to an insufficient allocation of staff by NVIDIA, or if there's a conflict of interest with Microsoft. Cheers, Ben

1 0

How to display network traffic in the terminal?
by Peter Reutemann 01 Oct '24

01 Oct '24

Was just wondering that myself and came across the following askubuntu Q&A: https://askubuntu.com/questions/257263/how-to-display-network-traffic-in-th… Tools mentioned: bmon slurm tcptrack iftop nethogs speedometer iptraf Quite a few that I hadn't heard of. :-) Cheers, Peter

2 1

Critical Unauthenticated RCE Flaw Impacts All GNU/Linux Systems
by Peter Reutemann 27 Sep '24

27 Sep '24

'"Looks like there's a storm brewing, and it's not good news," writes ancient Slashdot reader jd. "Whether or not the bugs are classically security defects or not, this is extremely bad PR for the Linux and Open Source community. It's not clear from the article whether this affects other Open Source projects, such as FreeBSD." From a report: A critical unauthenticated Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability has been discovered, impacting all GNU/Linux systems. As per agreements with developers, the flaw, which has existed for over a decade, will be fully disclosed in less than two weeks. Despite the severity of the issue, no Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) identifiers have been assigned yet, although experts suggest there should be at least three to six. Leading Linux distributors such as Canonical and RedHat have confirmed the flaw's severity, rating it 9.9 out of 10. This indicates the potential for catastrophic damage if exploited. However, despite this acknowledgment, no working fix is still available. Developers remain embroiled in debates over whether some aspects of the vulnerability impact security.' -- source: https://it.slashdot.org/story/24/09/25/2150210 Cheers, Peter

4 4

Tor Project Merges With Tails
by Peter Reutemann 27 Sep '24

27 Sep '24

'The Tor Project: Today the Tor Project, a global non-profit developing tools for online privacy and anonymity, and Tails, a portable operating system that uses Tor to protect users from digital surveillance, have joined forces and merged operations. Incorporating Tails into the Tor Project's structure allows for easier collaboration, better sustainability, reduced overhead, and expanded training and outreach programs to counter a larger number of digital threats. In short, coming together will strengthen both organizations' ability to protect people worldwide from surveillance and censorship. Countering the threat of global mass surveillance and censorship to a free Internet, Tor and Tails provide essential tools to help people around the world stay safe online. By joining forces, these two privacy advocates will pool their resources to focus on what matters most: ensuring that activists, journalists, other at-risk and everyday users will have access to improved digital security tools. In late 2023, Tails approached the Tor Project with the idea of merging operations. Tails had outgrown its existing structure. Rather than expanding Tails's operational capacity on their own and putting more stress on Tails workers, merging with the Tor Project, with its larger and established operational framework, offered a solution. By joining forces, the Tails team can now focus on their core mission of maintaining and improving Tails OS, exploring more and complementary use cases while benefiting from the larger organizational structure of The Tor Project. This solution is a natural outcome of the Tor Project and Tails' shared history of collaboration and solidarity. 15 years ago, Tails' first release was announced on a Tor mailing list, Tor and Tails developers have been collaborating closely since 2015, and more recently Tails has been a sub-grantee of Tor. For Tails, it felt obvious that if they were to approach a bigger organization with the possibility of merging, it would be the Tor Project.' -- source: https://yro.slashdot.org/story/24/09/26/1431201 Cheers, Peter

1 0

NIST proposes barring some of the most nonsensical password rules
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '24

26 Sep '24

'The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the federal body that sets technology standards for governmental agencies, standards organizations, and private companies, has proposed barring some of the most vexing and nonsensical password requirements. Chief among them: mandatory resets, required or restricted use of certain characters, and the use of security questions. Choosing strong passwords and storing them safely is one of the most challenging parts of a good cybersecurity regimen. More challenging still is complying with password rules imposed by employers, federal agencies, and providers of online services. Frequently, the rules—ostensibly to enhance security hygiene—actually undermine it. And yet, the nameless rulemakers impose the requirements anyway. [...] 1. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL require passwords to be a minimum of eight characters in length and SHOULD require passwords to be a minimum of 15 characters in length. 2. Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD permit a maximum password length of at least 64 characters. 3. Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD accept all printing ASCII [RFC20] characters and the space character in passwords. 4. Verifiers and CSPs SHOULD accept Unicode [ISO/ISC 10646] characters in passwords. Each Unicode code point SHALL be counted as a single character when evaluating password length. 5. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT impose other composition rules (e.g., requiring mixtures of different character types) for passwords. 6. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT require users to change passwords periodically. However, verifiers SHALL force a change if there is evidence of compromise of the authenticator. 7. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT permit the subscriber to store a hint that is accessible to an unauthenticated claimant. 8. Verifiers and CSPs SHALL NOT prompt subscribers to use knowledge-based authentication (KBA) (e.g., “What was the name of your first pet?”) or security questions when choosing passwords. 9. Verifiers SHALL verify the entire submitted password (i.e., not truncate it).' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/09/nist-proposes-barring-some-of-the-… Cheers, Peter

2 1

OpenSSH 9.9 Features Enhanced Quantum-Resistant Algorithms
by Peter Reutemann 26 Sep '24

26 Sep '24

'The OpenSSH project announced the release of OpenSSH 9.9, now available for download on its official mirrors. This new version introduces significant features, including support for hybrid post-quantum key exchange using a formally verified ML-KEM implementation, improved controls for managing unwanted connections, faster NTRUPrime key exchange code, and more.' -- source: https://linuxiac.com/openssh-9-9-released/ Cheers, Peter

1 0

Kubuntu Focus Ir14 Gen 2 review: Using Linux instead of messing with it
by Peter Reutemann 25 Sep '24

25 Sep '24

'There are lots of laptops—maybe all of them—on which you can run a Linux desktop. There are a few vendors that offer laptops with extensive Linux compatibility. And then there are a select few that specialize in Linux laptops, support them, and even customize them. Kubuntu Focus is one of the select few. It sent me one of its laptops to test the Ir14 Gen 2, which runs, of course, Kubuntu, the KDE desktop variant of Ubuntu. The “Focus” in the company name comes from what it is hoping to provide: a device on which you can just do your work without worrying about what’s happening deeper in your system. Go ahead and sudo apt update, says the Focus team; we’ve got you. I used the Ir14 Gen 2 for Ars Technica work and my personal needs for at least two weeks. Setting the system up with Focus’ guided wizard, installing apps from its store, and refusing to touch any of the deeper system files, I achieved something pretty remarkable: no unexpected behaviors on a Linux laptop. Had anything gone wrong, I could reasonably lean back on the system’s rollbacks, which I used a couple of times with no problem. Is this what it could be like? Does using Linux on the desktop not have to involve compiling from source, searching for that one relevant forum comment related to a problem, wondering where the fault lies along the chain from kernel to desktop to repository to me? Maybe. Can you surrender a bit of your upgrade and tinkering curiosity in exchange for knowing that things will work when they get to you? It might be trickier than you think. A Kubuntu Focus Ir14 Gen 2 laptop includes these things: - A laptop made by Carbon Systems, which supplies a lot of fleet and enterprise systems, and happens to make them relatively upgrade and repair-friendly - A stock Kubuntu 24.04 LTS system with a Plasma desktop, with Focus’ integrations built in - A few software tools from Focus, including power profiles and rollback The Focus is not meant to let you do whatever you want but to keep doing what you do. Researchers, developers, and jet propulsion labs are some of Focus’ customers. Focus tests everything that will arrive on official update channels to the device. When kernel updates appear in the upstream, Focus makes sure everything on the device works with it, while also contributing back to Ubuntu, Kubuntu, KDE, and the kernel itself. You don’t get interim releases. You don’t get staff in the forums helping you with running Arch or Fedora. There’s no custom desktop environment or windowing system (“We felt building a separate distribution and ecosystem is the last thing anyone needed,” the company writes). Focus chose reliability for daily-driver devices running Linux. It can, in other words, save you from yourself, if you’re a lot like me. Besides testing, Focus also makes a bunch of tweaks to the system before shipping: some keyboard shortcuts, screen scaling and console font alterations, automatic power profiles on plug and unplug, and the like. Focus has also written up almost every corner of your system you want help on; you can check it out on its site.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/kubuntu-focus-ir14-gen-2-review-usi… Cheers, Peter

1 0

Linux boots in 4.76 days on the Intel 4004
by Peter Reutemann 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

'Hardware hacker Dmitry Grinberg recently achieved what might sound impossible: booting Linux on the Intel 4004, the world's first commercial microprocessor. With just 2,300 transistors and an original clock speed of 740 kHz, the 1971 CPU is incredibly primitive by modern standards. And it's slow—it takes about 4.76 days for the Linux kernel to boot. Initially designed for a Japanese calculator called the Busicom 141-PF, the 4-bit 4004 found limited use in commercial products of the 1970s before being superseded by more powerful Intel chips, such as the 8008 and 8080 that powered early personal computers—and then the 8086 and 8088 that launched the IBM PC era. If you're skeptical that this feat is possible with a raw 4004, you're right: The 4004 itself is far too limited to run Linux directly. Instead, Grinberg created a solution that is equally impressive: an emulator that runs on the 4004 and emulates a MIPS R3000 processor—the architecture used in the DECstation 2100 workstation that Linux was originally ported to. This emulator, along with minimal hardware emulation, allows a stripped-down Debian Linux to boot to a command prompt.' -- source: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/09/hacker-boots-linux-on-intels-first-… Cheers, Peter

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Zen Browser: a New Firefox-based Alternative to Chromium Browsers
by Peter Reutemann 24 Sep '24

24 Sep '24

'First released on July 11th, the Firefox-based Zen browser is "taking a different approach to the user interface," according to the blog It's FOSS. The Register says the project "reminds us strongly of Arc, a radical Chromium-based web browser... to modernize the standard web browser UI by revising some fundamental assumptions." [Arc] removes the URL bar from front and center, gets rid of the simple flat list of tabs, and so on. Zen is trying to do some similar things, but in a slightly more moderate way — and it's doing it on the basis of Mozilla's Firefox codebase... Instead of the tired old horizontal tab bar you'll see in both Firefox and Chrome, Zen implements its own tab bar... By default, this tab bar is narrow and just shows page icons — but there are some extra controls at the bottom of the sidebar, one of which expands the sidebar to show page titles too. For us, it worked better than Vivaldi's fancier sidebar. The article concludes it's "a new effort to modernize web browsing by bringing tiling, workspaces, and so on — and it's blissfully free of Google code." One Reddit comment swooned over Zen's "extraordinary" implementation of a distraction-free "Compact Mode" (hiding things like the sidebar and top bar). And It's Foss described it as a "tranquil," browser, "written using CSS, C++, JavaScript, and a few other programming languages, with a community of over 30 people contributing to it." The layout of the interface felt quite clean to me; there were handy buttons on the top to control the webpage, manage extensions, and a menu with additional options... The split-view functionality allows you to open up two different tabs on the same screen, allowing for easy multitasking when working across different webpages... I split two tabs, but in my testing, I could split over 10+ tabs... If you have a larger monitor, then you are in for a treat... The Zen Sidebar feature... can run web apps alongside any open tabs. This can be helpful in situations where you need to quickly access a service like a note-taking app, Wikipedia, Telegram, and others. On the customization side of things, you will find that Zen Browser supports everything that Firefox does, be it the settings, adding new extensions/themes/plugins, etc. The Register points out it's easy to give it a try. "Being based on Firefox means that as well as running existing extensions, it can connect to Mozilla's Sync service and pick up not just your bookmarks, but also your tabs from other instances." And beyond all that, "There's just something satisfying about switching browsers every now and again..." argues the tech site Pocket-Lint: Zen Browser's vertical tabs layout is superb and feels much better than anything available in standard Firefox. [Firefox recently offered vertical tabs and a new sidebar experience in Nightly/Firefox Labs 131.] The tab bar can be set to automatically hide and show up whenever you hover near it, and it also contains quick access buttons to bookmarks, settings, and browsing history. The tab bar also contains a profile switcher... One of the greatest parts of the Zen Browser is the community that has popped up around it. At its heart, Zen Browser is a community-driven project... Zen Browser themes are aesthetic and functional tweaks to the UI. While there aren't a ton available right now, the ones that are show a lot of promise for the browser's future... I've personally gotten great use out of the Super URL Bar theme, which makes your URL bar expand and become the focus of your screen while typing in it... There's a lot you can do to make Zen Browser feel nearly exactly like what you want it to feel like. The "Business Standard calls it "an open-source alternative to Chromium-based browsers," adding "Where Zen truly shines is it offers a range of customisation, tab management, and workspace management..." Their theme store offers a range of options, including modifications to the bookmark toolbar, a floating URL bar, private mode theming, and removal of browser padding. In addition to these, users can also choose from custom colour schemes and built-in theming options... The Sidebar is another neat feature which allows you to open tabs in a smaller, smartphone-sized window. You can view websites in mobile layout by using this panel. It's "focused on being always at the latest version of Firefox," according to its official site, noting that Firefox is known for its security features. But then, "We also have additional security features like https only built into Zen Browser to help keep you safe online." And it also promises automated Releases "to ensure security." It's FOSS adds that you can get Zen Browser for Linux, Windows, and macOS from its official website (adding "They also offer it on the Flathub store for further accessibility on Linux.") And its source code is available on GitHub.' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/23/0353206 Cheers, Peter

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As Companies Try 'Open Source Rug Pull', Open Source Foundations Considered Helpful
by Peter Reutemann 22 Sep '24

22 Sep '24

'"In the era of the open source rug pull, the role of open source foundations is more important than ever," argues the co-founder of the developer-focused industry analyst firm RedMonk: The "rug pull" here refers to companies that have used open source as a distribution mechanism, building a community and user base, before changing the license to be restricted, rather than truly open source. "This is capitalism, yo. We've got shareholders to satisfy. It's time to relicense that software, move to a Business Source license." [...] Where open source used to be a sustainable commitment, today too often it feels like a short term tactic. Commercial open source isn't what it used to be. Which means that open source foundations, which provide ongoing governance and intellectual property management for open source projects, are in an interesting position, in some cases becoming more adversarial than they historically have been with vendors.... [T]he Apache Software Foundation (ASF) has done a great job of fostering sustainable, commercial, open source for decades now, most notably in the data infrastructure space — think Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, Flink etc. ["[C]ommercial open source would almost certainly never have achieved critical mass and continued success without foundations in the mix," the article notes later. "The ASF was founded in 1999, and underpinned the adoption of open source middleware in the enterprise..."] One premise behind the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF) is that user organisations can within reason trust it to stand behind the projects it incubates and manages. While not an explicit commitment, adopters generally, and enterprises specifically, have seen the CNCF imprimatur as one that they can rely on. In the era of the open source rug pull this kind of promise becomes even more important.... Sid Sijbrandij, CEO of GitLab has argued that open source companies should commit to an Open Charter as a mechanism to protect users from open source rug pulls. "Open source software isn't useful if people can't rely on the project remaining open source. Adopting Open Charter offers open source users predictability amidst the growing licensing switch trend." With a CNCF project, though, the need for this kind of charter becomes less important, because the code is by design not single source, but has a diverse set of contributors. Which is to say that open source foundations can make rug pulls a lot less likely than adoption of open source technology built by a single company. Relying on benevolent dictators is generally pretty risky. And recently the benevolent dictators have seemed... less benevolent. In conclusion, "Open Source Foundations Considered Helpful," according to the post's title. It does argue that "Any company is within its rights to relicense its software, but it can certainly be problematic from a community and project health perspective. "Which is exactly why open source foundations are more important than ever."' -- source: https://news.slashdot.org/story/24/09/21/0530234 Cheers, Peter

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List Of IPTV Resources
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 22 Sep '24

22 Sep '24

This user <https://github.com/iptv-org> just popped up in my GitHub feed. One repo <https://github.com/iptv-org/iptv> claims to be a list of links to over 8000 streaming TV channels from nations all over the world, while the other is a list of tools*, providers and other resources. Do be aware it’s a bit of a mixed bag: yes, there are legitimate channels (no encryption so far that I have noticed), but also some dubious-looking links. *Oddly, FFmpeg and youtube-dl aren’t in the list.

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Trying Out IPv6
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Sep '24

19 Sep '24

My new ISP supports IPv6, and I’ve been doing a few tentative tests with it. I actually disabled the DHCPv6 support in my router, and manually configured an address in the ISP-delegated range into my main machine, just for testing. And now I’ve discovered that my other Linux machines have picked up addresses in the delegated range as well, all by themselves! Turns out this is through a mechanism called “SLAAC” (“Stateless Address Autoconfiguration”). My main worry was that, since IPv6 allows direct connections without needing NAT, that internal machines with IPv6 addresses would be directly visible on the Internet. But checking with an external IPv6 ping site seems to show this is not the case: my router is blocking incoming attempts to access nodes on IPv6 addresses by default. The router responds to pings on its own IPv6 address from the public Internet, of course; but other allocated addresses in the range do not respond. Here is a site <https://test-ipv6.com/> I found to test your IPv6 connectivity. It also gives details of the tests it runs, and a handy list of some random places you can access via IPv6.

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Real-Time Linux Is Now Mainstream
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 19 Sep '24

19 Sep '24

The PREEMPT_RT patches (aka “Real-Time Linux”) originated as a set of out-of-tree mods to the Linux kernel about 20 years ago. Bit by bit, over time, various parts of them have been incorporated into the mainline code. Some of these patches have found uses in, shall we say, more mainstream application areas. And beginning with kernel version 6.12, the last of those out-of-tree patches have been merged, and the out-of-tree PREEMPT_RT patchset is no more. This article <https://www.zdnet.com/article/20-years-later-real-time-linux-makes-it-to-th…> by long-time Linux fan Steven J Vaughan-Nichols, gives some background. Including the fact that musicians have been using Linux for audio work for decades, because Linux with the real-time patches was the cheapest way of recording pro-quality audio, much cheaper than buying “real” pro audio gear.

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Use oathtool Linux command line for 2 step verification (2FA)
by Peter Reutemann 18 Sep '24

18 Sep '24

Hi everyone With 2FA now being commonplace, I've mainly relied on Google's Authenticator or the MS equivalent. However, today I came across this tutorial on how to use the oathtool CLI tool to achieve the same: https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/use-oathtool-linux-command-line-for-2-step-ve… Originally, I came across the tutorial on my Mastodon feed: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/113154210830716246 Cheers, Peter

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Is Your Windows Licence Legal?
by Lawrence D'Oliveiro 18 Sep '24

18 Sep '24

How do you know your Windows-running PC is running a legitimately-licensed copy of Windows? It seems you can’t: <https://www.zdnet.com/article/is-your-windows-license-legal-should-you-even…>. The article says “You almost certainly have a valid Windows license if you acquired it in ...” and goes on to list the usual ways that users obtain their copies. But note that “almost”: there is nothing you end up with -- no document or artifact or anything else -- that definitively says your copy of Windows is genuine. The final decision always goes back to Microsoft: if they decide not to sue you, then your copy is probably legit.

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