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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 ...

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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? ;)

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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 ...

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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…>

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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