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● Links 16/1/2022: Year of the GNU/Linux Desktop and Catch-up With Patent Misinformation

Posted in News Roundup at 8:49 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxDistributionsDevices/EmbeddedFree Software/Open SourceLeftovers

GNU/Linux

Desktop/Laptop

=> ↺ 16 Reasons why you should switch to Linux – Real Linux User

• Are you considering buying a new desktop or laptop computer because the performance of your current system is not up to standards anymore? But you doubt what to buy and how much money to spend. And you have even more doubts because you already did an expensive upgrade only a couple of years ago and ask yourself if these kinds of repetitive investments are actually really necessary, while your current equipment is not really broken. Did you know that Linux can bring back your “old” device back to life and will give you at least some or even many years extra with your trusted companion. In this article I will give you 16 reasons why you should switch to Linux.

=> ↺ Is 2022 the year of the Linux desktop? | by Tim Wells | Jan, 2022 | Medium

• It should be no surprise that I am a Linux user and I have been for many years. I was introduced to Slackware 1 many many years ago and have been a user since. I’ve seen it’s transition for it’s early days to what it is today, and it’s hard to argue that it doesn’t look good these days. Over the years the idea of the “year of the Linux desktop” has been a regularly debated topic.

=> ↺ Are We Getting Closer to the Year of the Linux Desktop?

• Earlier this year TechRepublic argued that while 2021 wasn’t the year of the Linux desktop, “there was no denying the continued dominance of Linux in the enterprise space and the very slow (and subtle) growth of Linux on the desktop. And in just about every space (minus the smartphone arena), Linux made some serious gains.”

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ This Week in Linux 181: PinePhone Pro, Linux Mint / Mozilla, GNOME Extensions, System76 COSMIC – TuxDigital

• On this episode of This Week in Linux, PinePhone Pro Explorer Edition, Extension Manager App for GNOME, Exploring System76’s COSMIC Desktop Environment, Slackware Linux RC3, Linux Mint & Mozilla Partnership, Firefox 96 & Firefox Major Bug Found, Developer Sabotage’s Own Projects, Desktop Environment In A Browser, God of War Now On Steam (via Proton), Steam Deck On Track for February, Humble Bundle Removing Linux from Trove. All that and much more on Your Weekly Source for Linux GNews!

=> ↺ Gecko Linux Takes OpenSUSE To The Next Level – Invidious

• GeckoLinux is a Linux spin based on the openSUSE distribution, with a focus on polish and out-of-the-box usability on the desktop. It is available in Static (based on openSUSE Leap) and Rolling (based on openSUSE Tumbleweed) editions. Today, I’m taking a look at the recently released Rolling edition with the Cinnamon desktop.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Linux 5.17 KVM Updates Deliver Intel AMX Support – Phoronix

• The Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) changes for Linux 5.17 bring several feature additions.

• First up, KVM with Linux 5.17 brings support for Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX) debuting with Xeon “Sapphire Rapids” processors. While Linux 5.16 brought Intel AMX support, this didn’t include support for using the new instructions within KVM guests. With Linux 5.17 that AMX support for KVM is now ready.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ What Is the Arch User Repository (AUR)? Everything You Need to Know

• Arch users are spoilt for choice when it comes to software downloads. You could either get your packages from the official Arch repository, Snap Store, and Flathub or completely eliminate the need to install software by simply downloading AppImages.

• Then there’s another option—downloading software from the Arch User Repository (AUR). But not every Arch user is familiar with it, especially newcomers. So, what is the AUR, and how can you download packages from this special repository? Let’s find out.

=> ↺ Some ways DNS can break

• When I first learned about it, DNS didn’t seem like it should be THAT complicated. Like, there are DNS records, they’re stored on a server, what’s the big deal?

• But with DNS, reading about how it works in a textbook doesn’t prepare you for the sheer volume of different ways DNS can break your system in practice. It’s not just caching problems!

=> ↺ What is WordPress Heartbeat and How to Reduce Admin-ajax.php Hits

• WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world. They released the initial version of WordPress in 2003. It introduces new features every year. On August 1, 2013, WordPress Heartbeat was initially introduced in WordPress version 3.6. It allows your browser to communicate with the server when you are logged into the WordPress dashboard.

• WordPress Heartbeat offers great functionality, it helps in post revision tracking, auto-saving of posts while composing, and user session management. WordPress Heartbeat sends a continuous pulse, as the name indicates, using AJAX calls to perform periodic tasks. In this article, we will explain what is WordPress Heartbeat and how to reduce admin-ajax.php hits.

=> ↺ 5 Step Nginx contains podman easy

• Nginx contains podman is an accessible, open-source, high-performance HTTP server, reverse proxy, and IMAP/POP3 proxy server. NGINX is known for its high performance, stability, rich feature set, simple configuration, and low resource consumption. Now we create an instance nginx containing podman.

=> ↺ How To Install Octave on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Octave on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. For those of you who didn’t know, GNU Octave is a programming language for scientific computing. It is used to perform numerical computations very easily and with a very high level of precision. Moreover, it is a very good alternative to MATLAB.

• This article assumes you have at least basic knowledge of Linux, know how to use the shell, and most importantly, you host your site on your own VPS. The installation is quite simple and assumes you are running in the root account, if not you may need to add ‘sudo‘ to the commands to get root privileges. I will show you through the step-by-step installation of GNU Octave on Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa). You can follow the same instructions for Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04, and any other Debian-based distribution like Linux Mint.

Games

=> ↺ Stats show Linux now a “viable” game platform | Boing Boing

• Driven by refinements in compatibility frameworks and heavy promotion by Steam as a hedge against Microsoft’s increasing control of the Windows marketplace, Linux is becoming the OS of choice for more players.

=> ↺ Cemu Emulator Plans For 2022 With Going Open-Source, Aiming For Linux Support – Phoronix

• Cemu as one of the leading Nintendo Wii U video game emulators is planning to go open-source this year and is also working on Linux support and related cross-platform advancements.

• Cemu is a Wii U video game console emulator that has been out for Windows since 2015 and has garnered much success albeit criticism for being closed-source. A Phoronix reader has written in about their newly-published 2022 road-map that holds much interest for the year ahead. In particular for 2022 they plan to publish the source code of Cemu and open up its development process to community contributors. They are planning for this open-source milestone to happen this calendar year.

=> ↺ Mac and Linux games leave Humble Bundle’s Trove after January 31st

=> ↺ Humble Bundle subscription drops Linux and Mac support

=> ↺ Keep Bugging Game Devs For Linux Anti Cheat Support – Invidious

• Sure it might seem like you’re just being annoying but the only way to encourage game devs to add Linux support for anticheat systems like EAC and Battle Eye into there games is to continue bugging them and showing that there is a lot of support for these changes.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ First Look at the Maui Shell – The Future of Linux Desktop [Test Drive+Video]

• We compiled the brand new Maui Shell and test drive it. Here’s the first look on this amazing vision of Linux desktop.

Devices/Embedded

=> ↺ Linux maker board market survives chip shortage, adds 29 new SBCs in 2021

• In this intro to our catalog of 136 Linux hacker boards, we examine how the 2021 chip shortage led to higher prices, limited availability, and more than twice the usual number of discontinuations. Yet, 29 models launched in 2021, including SBCs with M.2 slots, RISC-V CPUs, and AI chips.

• Welcome to our 2022 edition of our roundup of maker boards selling for $200 or under that run Linux or Android. The Catalog link in the box below leads to 136 new or updated SBC summaries, and the spreadsheet links offer quick feature comparisons.

=> ↺ Catalog of 136 open-spec, community-backed Linux SBCs under $200

• Our 2022 catalog of 136 open-spec, maker-oriented SBCs that run Linux or Android provides updated prices and descriptions plus a comparison spreadsheet of major features.

• The following summaries of 136 predominantly community-backed and open-spec Linux/Android hacker boards at $200 or under are listed in alpha order. They list specs and lowest available pricing recorded in the last two weeks of Dec. 2021 and first week of Jan. 2022 with products either shipping or available for pre-order with expected ship date by 2Q 2021.

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ RISC-V Powered Mango Pi Takes on Raspberry Pi Zero at Its Own Game | Tom’s Hardware

• Over the past decade there have been many Raspberry Pi clones. The latest clones the Raspberry Pi Zero form factor but introduces a RISC-V processor in place of the usual Arm powered SoC. MangoPi has appeared in a series of Twitter posts (as reported by Liliputing), and looks like a good choice for those needing more fruit in their diet.

• The Mango Pi MQ Pro, in fact. The little Allwinner D1 processor we’ve covered before beats at its heart, a 1 GHz single-core, 64 bit chip built on the open-source RISC-V architecture. RAM can range from 512MB to 2GB, and while the MQ Pro carries enough ports (2x USB Type-C, HDMI, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), along with its 40-pin GPIO (Pi compatibility to be confirmed), to function solo, there’s also a carrier board in testing to add Ethernet and USB Type-A.

• The MQ Pro isn’t the first Mango Pi board. The company, whose Twitter account gives its location as Beijing and New York, previously created the postage-stamp sized Mango Pi MQ around an Allwinner D1s processor. This tiny SBC sports a pair of USB Type-C ports, but no video output beyond a 15-pin DSI FPC connector.

=> ↺ Homemade Pirani vacuum gauge controller with Arduino | Arduino Blog

• In theory, a Pirani gauge is a very simple device for measuring the pressure of a gas within a container, as it consists of a heated metal wire that loses heat as the pressure increases internally. With this value now known, the electrical resistance can be measured and used to determine the precise pressure of a given gas. And although the sensors themselves are relatively inexpensive, the controllers they are often connected to can have a very high price, which is why YouTuber Advanced Tinkering decided to create his own digital readout.

• The display uses an Arduino Mega to take in data from the sensor, convert it to a pressure level, and send it to a pair of LCDs. First, the Pirani gauge’s analog value is read with an ADS1115 ADC, which has 16 bits of resolution, and from there the value is converted to pressure using the calibration constant for air and a unit coefficient. The Mega then writes this information to the unit’s 16×2 character LCD module and plots points along a graph shown on a 3.5” TFT screen. Additionally, pressure data is sent via USB to a host machine where it can be read by an external program such as the Arduino Serial Plotter tool.

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Best Free and Open Source Alternatives to Oracle TopLink – LinuxLinks

• Oracle is a computer technology corporation best known for its software products and services like Java.

• In 2020, Oracle was the second-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. They employ over 130,000 people, and sell cloud-engineering services and systems and database management systems.

• Oracle has a fairly prominent position with open source. They are a supporting member of the Linux Foundation, Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Eclipse Foundation, and the Java Community Process.

• Through its acquisition of Sun Microsystems in 2010, Oracle also became the steward of many other important and long-running open source projects such as the Java programming language and the MySQL relational database, introduced in 1995. The acquisition of Sleepycat Software, brought the open source Berkeley DB key/value store.

• The company co-develops the OpenJDK, an open source implementation of the Java Platform Standard Edition, and Btrfs, a B-tree file system. They also open source the Oracle Coherence Community Edition, NetBeans, and produce Oracle Linux which is a Linux distro compiled from Red Hat Enterprise Linux source code.

• While Oracle develops and distributes open source software, they have many different business models. The majority of their products are published under a proprietary license. This series looks at free and open source alternatives to Oracle’s products.

Leftovers

=> ↺ The TODO List (by David REVOY, Krita artist)

• Here is a little Pepper & Carrot comic strip inspired by the too many task I decided to handle in this start 2022 “to start fresh”. In my long list, I managed to do a lot (DIY/Maintainance/Refactor/Paperwork/Documentation) but not as quickly as I wanted.

Hardware

=> ↺ Recycling Soda Bottles Into Filament To Print Smaller Soda Bottles | Hackaday

• Soda bottles are usually made out of PET plastic, or polyethylene terephthalate, which is one of the most popular thermoplastics in modern society. A soda bottle can be cut into a continuous long, thin strip with the use of a simple hand-operated machine that slices the bottle with a blade. This strip of plastic can then be fed through a heated nozzle in order to produce filament for 3D printing. [The Q] demonstrates both parts of this process, including using a motorized reel to take up filament as the bottle material is fed through the extruder.

• The filament is then demonstrated by printing tiny versions of soda bottles. [The Q] fills these with soda and gives them the appropriate lids and labels for completion’s sake. It’s a neat way to demonstrate that the filament actually works for 3D printing. It bears noting that such prints are almost certainly not food safe, but it’s really a proof of concept rather than an attempt to make a usable beverage container.

=> ↺ The Eerie Sounds Of Ioalieia: An ESP32/Valve/Analog Hybrid Circuit Sculpture | Hackaday

• We’ve not had a circuit sculpture piece for a while, so here’s “ioalieia” a lovely hybrid digital-analog sound sculpture by [Eirik Brandal] to dig into.

Integrity/Availability

Proprietary

Security

Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation

=> ↺ macOS, Windows, Linux all targeted by new cross-platform exploit

=> ↺ Windows has back doors

• On January 11, researchers from Intezer revealed they had found SysJoker, a backdoor that was originally discovered to be attacking Linux. Shortly after, variants of the same backdoor were uncovered that went after Windows and macOS.

=> ↺ Linux malware sees 35% growth during 2021

=> ↺ directly connected to Microsoft

Monopolies

Patents

=> ↺ The EU’s patent attorney deficit is a major hindrance to innovation leadership

=> ↺ bribed agent

• A new scheme launched yesterday offers finding to SMEs seeking to protect their inventions but does little to tackle what is a major problem in many member states

=> ↺ [Older] UK: What To Do If You Suspect Infringement

=> ↺ spreading fake news to promote an illegal agenda

=> ↺ [Older] UK: UK Government Launches Intellectual Property And Artificial Intelligence Consultation

=> ↺ buzzwords and nonsense

• The UK Government officially launched its consultation on intellectual property (IP) and artificial intelligence (AI) on 29 October 2021, as part of the National AI Strategy (see our summary here) which aims to ensure the UK continues to be a world-leader in AI development and deployment.

=> ↺ [Older] Vegan Patent Analytics

• November marks World Vegan Month which, this year, happily coincided with the COP26 conference. Veganism is becoming increasingly popular for reasons of sustainability, as well as ethical reasons. Eating less meat is believed to be one of the key steps that individuals can take to reduce their own carbon footprint. The total number of vegans in the world is currently estimated to be around 79 million, with this number expected to grow in years to come. In the UK, market-research in 2019 found that 40% of meat-eaters were also seeking to reduce their meat consumption.

=> ↺ Unitary patent promises a cheaper alternative for life sciences companies

=> ↺ opposite of what they say is true

• It is looking likely that the unitary patent (UP) will finally become available in 2022, now that Austria has completed its legislative requirements. While the preparatory committee has yet to announce a definitive timetable, its current estimate is for the provisional application phase to begin in January 2022, followed by the new system properly starting in mid-2022. Even with some delays, it seems realistic to expect the UP to arrive by the end of this year. While the most obvious beneficiaries may be innovators in the life sciences arena, how will the new system work and what will happen to the current national validation system?

=> ↺ Top 10 Patent Cases: 1891 to 1951

=> ↺ funded by the patent litigation ‘sector’

• Prior to 1891, appeals in patent cases went directly to the Supreme Court, and the Court decided lots of patent cases. In 1891, Congress created the regional circuit courts of appeals as a buffer between the trial courts and the Supreme Court and the number of high-court patent cases began to fall. The court decided a number of big patent cases during the period of 1891-1952, although many of them have been rejected or are no longer followed. Many are also primarily anti-trust cases involving the use (or misuse) of patent rights.

=> ↺ Denmark: Decision G 1/21: Oral Proceedings By Videoconference

=> ↺ proved EPO corruption has taken over its tribunals, too

• On 28 October 2021, the Enlarged Board of Appeal of the European Patent Office issued the reasons for decision G 1/21 of 16 July 2021, in which it was ordered that “during a general emergency impairing the parties’ possibilities to attend in-person oral proceedings at the EPO premises, the conduct of oral proceedings before the boards of appeal in the form of a videoconference is compatible with the EPC even if not all of the parties to the proceedings have given their consent to the conduct of oral proceedings in the form of a videoconference”.

=> ↺ FOSS Patents: InterDigital, Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) readying for FRAND trial: one patent valid and infringed, one invalid, shortcut injunction denied for now

• We’re very close now to the InterDigital v. Lenovo FRAND trial in London, so I’d like to provide a quick update to my July post on this dispute, InterDigital’s hole-in-one in UK court build tremendous pressure on Lenovo (Motorola Mobility) to take global cellular SEP license pursuant to Unwired Planet. InterDigital prevailed on the merits with respect to EP2485558 on a “method and apparatus for providing and utilizing a non-contention based channel in a wireless communication system” because Judge Hacon deemed it valid and essential to the 4G (LTE) cellular communications standard.

• Apparently the pressure I was talking about has not yet resulted in a settlement, though it may still happen on the eve of the trial (a juncture at which license agreements often fall into place).

=> ↺ [Older] Lenovo gets access to InterDigital licensing info ahead of FRAND trial

=> ↺ a very large patent troll

=> ↺ [Older] UK: Peloton Faces Patent Challenges In The Race To Beat The Competition

• For a fitness-based business, Peloton seems to be quite active in the US patent courts right now. Success will always attract unwanted attention I guess. Peloton will certainly find it challenging to assert a broad monopoly in the general field of remote-lead home exercise, even if they possess some pretty broad patents in this area.

=> ↺ [Older] How Much Are My Patents Worth?

=> ↺ [Older] NFTs: Beware Of IP Rights

=> ↺ [Older] UK Government Consultation On Standard Essential Patents

=> ↺ Convicted corrupt firm

• The UK government has commenced a consultation regarding standards essential patents and their impact on innovation. As the consultation’s introduction says, “The government seeks views as to whether the Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) ecosystem (i.e. the enabling participants, commercial relationships, infrastructure, and legal and regulatory environment) surrounding SEPs is functioning efficiently and effectively and striking the right balance for all entities involved.” It is doubtful that any company that has been involved in the often multi-jurisdictional and always expensive litigation concerning SEPs would regard the SEP ecosystem as functioning efficiently and effectively. There is a fundamental disconnect in that telecoms companies generally operate and licence on a global basis, yet the relevant standards provide no mechanism themselves for resolving disputes, leaving the parties with no choice but to engage in litigation in national courts. Furthermore, the number of patents involved is enormous: for example, the consultation request notes that, as of 2020, around 95,000 patents had been declared essential for the 5G standard.

=> ↺ [Older] UK IPO Launches Consultation On Standard Essential Patents – Intellectual Property – UK

=> ↺ UKIPO

• The UK IPO has issued an open consultation with a call for views in relation to standard essential patents. The consultation includes a wide range of questions relating to the relationship between standard essential patents and innovation, competition and market functioning, transparency, licensing and litigation. The closing date for responding to the consultation is 1 March 2022.

=> ↺ [Older] Current Revocation Rates In German Patent Nullity Proceedings

=> ↺ Bardehle Pagenberg

• This article presents the current revocation rates with respect to granted patents in Germany on the basis of the case law of the German Nullity Senates of the German Federal Patent Court and the German Federal Court of Justice in the period between 2018 and 2020. It highlights patents from the field of software and telecommunications. Repeating this survey was prompted by the dispute regarding the presumption of validity of patents in preliminary injunction proceedings which has recently been escalated up to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

=> ↺ [Older] UK: Double Patenting In The EPO

=> ↺ granting everything conceivable for money

• The issue of “double patenting” arises in the EPO when one applicant files two European patent applications with closely related claims and the same effective filing date.

=> ↺ [Older] Medical Inventions In Europe

=> ↺ illegal patents in software, albeit in “medical” clothing

• Methods of treatment of the human or animal body by surgery or therapy and diagnostic methods practiced on the human or body are excluded from patentability in Europe (see Art. 53 EPC).

• However, such methods of treatment can still be protected in the form of a first medical use claim or a second medical use claim. Medical use encompasses use in therapy, use in in vivo diagnostics or use in surgery. These provisions are set out in Art. 54(4) and Art. 54(5) EPC.

=> ↺ European Commission asked about the compatibility of the UPC with EU law

=> ↺ About time

• The European Parliament has recently published a written question from Patrick Breyer, a German MEP, to the European Commission. Mr Breyer asks, in summary, whether the Unified Patent Court (UPC) complies with the requirement (under CJEU case law) that an international court common to EU member states has functional links with the courts of the member states when it has to apply EU law and cooperate with the CJEU.

Trademarks

=> ↺ [Older] LEGO Wins Design Case At The EU Court

=> ↺ corrupt

=> ↺ EUIPO

• The European IP authority, EUIPO, hadwrongly declared invalid a design of one of the building bricks of LEGO’s toy building sets. LEGO’s design protection is therefore upheld.

• LEGO has just won a case by the EU Court concerning design protection of one of its building bricks. The case goes back to 2010. LEGO had obtained design protection of one of its building bricks with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, EUIPO. The protection means that LEGO is protected against other companies copying the brick.

=> ↺ €47 million fund to protect intellectual property of EU SMEs in their COVID-19 recovery and green and digital transitions

• Today, the Commission and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) launched the new EU SME Fund, which offers vouchers for EU-based SMEs to help them protect their intellectual property (IP) rights. This is the second EU SME Fund aiming at supporting SMEs in the COVID-19 recovery and green and digital transitions for the next three years (2022-2024).

=> ↺ €47 million fund to protect intellectual property of EU SMEs in their COVID-19 recovery and green and digital transitions

=> ↺ How to trademark the metaverse

• Intellectual property is valuable both physically and virtually. Brands, and their legal teams, are playing catch-up.

• [...]

• Attempted land grabs are having an impact on brands regardless of whether or not they currently have a virtual presence. In November, two trademark applications were filed in the US by third-parties to use the Gucci and Prada logos in a range of metaverse-related arenas, including “downloadable virtual goods”, virtual worlds and virtual clothing used in virtual spaces. And on metaverse platforms with user-generated content, such as Roblox, creators are currently selling clothes that feature logos from the likes of Louis Vuitton, Prada and Chanel.

Copyrights

=> ↺ The Artist Pension Trust Had a Utopian Dream to Give Artists a Shared Retirement Fund. It’s Devolved Into Legal Threats and Despair

• In the first of a two-part series on the rise and fall of the Artist Pension Trust, we examine the origins of the plan.

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