● 02.06.22

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 6/2/2022: LibreDWG 0.12.5 and FOSDEM 2022

Posted in News Roundup at 6:29 pm by Dr. Roy SchestowitzContentsGNU/LinuxDistributionsDevices/EmbeddedFree Software/Open SourceLeftovers

GNU/Linux

=> ↺ Linux Weekly Roundup #168

• Welcome to this week’s Linux Weekly Roundup, we had a full week in the world of Linux releases, but I and my family are busy moving and my workstation is packed away, so I couldn’t make any videos of these Linux releases, and my computer is still packed away for a while.

• So this week, Trisquel 10.0, Garuda Linux 220131, Bodhi Linux 6.1.0 alpha, Nitrux Linux 2022.02.02, Peppermint OS 2022-02-02, Zorin OS 16 “Education”, and Slackware 15.0 was released.

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Rootdo Takes Linux Minimalism Way Too Far – Invidious

• Some times Linux people take software minimalism a little bit too far and rootdo is one of those cases, this is minimal replacement to doas which is already excessively minimal.

Kernel Space

=> ↺ Linux 5.17-rc3

=> ↺ Kernel updates available for PCLinuxOS » PCLinuxOS

• Current kernels: kernel-5.4.177-pclos1-1-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpm kernel-5.10.98-pclos1-1-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpm kernel-5.15.21-pclos1-1-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpm kernel-5.16.7-pclos1-1-1pclos2022.x86_64.rpm

=> ↺ Linux 5.16.6

=> ↺ Linux 5.15.20

=> ↺ Linux 5.10.97

=> ↺ Linux 5.4.177

=> ↺ Linux 5.16.7

=> ↺ Linux 5.15.21

=> ↺ Linux 5.10.98

Graphics Stack

=> ↺ 3dfx Glide Coming to Linux with Support for Modern GPUs

• A developer has implemented 3dfx’s Glide application programming interface into Mesa’s Gallium3D driver stack for modern GPUs. The implementation allows users to play games that rely on Glide under Linux to run on modern hardware.

Applications

=> ↺ 6 Best Free and Open Source Robotic Process Automation Tools

• Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a business process automation technology that uses attended or unattended software bots to automate repetitive, tedious, and time-consuming back-end office tasks while users concentrate on high-value tasks.

• This type of software lets you create ‘bots’ to complete a wide variety of tasks, as well as manage and schedule the bots based on the nature of the task.

=> ↺ 9 Practical Examples of the cut Command in Linux

=> ↺ a kernel does not have such tools

• Linux-based operating systems offer many command-line text processing utilities you can use in your day-to-day routine. The cut command is one such text manipulation utility that uses delimiters, bytes, fields, and columns to fetch a required string from a flat-file database or a line.

• Since a flat-file database does not have a structural relationship and the records are separated with the help of delimiters, cut is an ideal tool to extract characters or bytes of information. This article discusses the cut command in detail and demonstrates some practical examples with different filter options to get you started with the tool.

=> ↺ New release of sbuild-qemu Utilities | Christian Kastner

• I just released a new version of the sbuild-qemu utilities as part of sbuild. Notable changes are support for new architectures, and a new sbuild-qemu-boot utility to start a VM and interact with its console directly through the terminal.

• As a reminder, these utilities leverage functionality in vmdb2, autopkgtest, and sbuild to use QEMU VM images for building and testing packages in strongly isolated environments and/or on foreign architectures and/or that might break the system.

• [...]

• However, there’s an autopkgtest issue (#10031002) with the host-guest communication bridge on armhf and on multi-core arm64 (single-core seems to work fine) that currently makes images unusable for sbuild and autopkgtest. I haven’t yet figured out what the problem seems to be, but for the time being, the images can still be used with sbuild-qemu-boot.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ 2 ways to Install OpenRGB on Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04 LTS – Linux Shout

• Learn the commands to install OpenRGB tools on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy JellyFish or Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa Linux using the terminal to control RGB lights.

• OpenRGB earlier known as OpenAuraSDK is free, multivendor software for controlling RGB lighting. The project is focused to provide support for multiple hardware manufacturers’ products to reduce the programs load, which are limited to Windows, superfluous.

=> ↺ How To Install Memcached on Fedora 35 – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Memcached on Fedora 35. For those of you who didn’t know, Memcached is a high-performance distributed, in-memory caching system. It primarily is used to speed up sites that make heavy use of databases. Memcached has an API with a very large hash table distributed across multiple machines. when a table is full, subsequent inserts cause older data to be purged in the least recently used order.

• 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 the step-by-step installation of the Memcached on a Fedora 35.

=> ↺ Mastodon Setup with Docker and nginx-proxy | ~rriemann

• I have been working on a setup with Mastodon that is easy to repeat and share. A setup with very few steps. Please consider that this setup is not enough for a production environment. It requires additional security measures. Please put your recommendations in the comments! :grinning:

• Our starting point is the docker-compose.yml shipped with the Mastodon code. Why is it not enough? It assumes you setup up proxy with HTTPS endpoints yourself. So let’s integrate this as well in Docker.

=> ↺ 3 Ways To Install Skype In Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | Itsubuntu.com

• Skype is a popular video-conferencing application. It was bought by Microsoft and thus we started to name it Microsoft skype. Microsoft skype has a massive userbase. It is free to install and use., You can use it on any operating system like Windows, Linux, macOS, and Android.

• In this post, we will show you the multiple ways to install Skype in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

=> ↺ Cloudlinux command to install ALT-PHP, Nodejs, Python from SSH | Elinux.co.in | Linux Cpanel/ WHM blog | Linux Webhosting Blog, Linux blogs

• If you are in love with SSH or black screen and want to install Cloudlinux ALT-PHP, Nodejs or Python using SSH then you can use below command.

=> ↺ WHM API to suspend/unsuspend account with account summary | Elinux.co.in | Linux Cpanel/ WHM blog | Linux Webhosting Blog, Linux blogs

• If you want to suspend the account using WHM API from SSH and mention the reason of suspension then use below command.

=> ↺ WHM API to change the main account domain name from the SSH | Elinux.co.in | Linux Cpanel/ WHM blog | Linux Webhosting Blog, Linux blogs

• If you want to change the cpanel hosting account domain name using SSH or whmapi then you can run below command.

=> ↺ How to install Ardour on a Chromebook

• Today we are looking at how to install Ardour on a Chromebook. Please follow the video/audio guide as a tutorial where we explain the process step by step and use the commands below.

=> ↺ Install Build Essential Tools On Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | Itsubuntu.com

• Tutorial To Install build essential tools on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. You can also follow this tutorial to install build essential tools on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

• Build essential is not a software or application. Build essential is a meta-package that is required to compile the application on Linux. It includes the GCC/g++ compilers and libraries required to compile software written in C and C++. You need build-essential tool in your Linux to compile the program or source code.

=> ↺ Install PHP Mcrypt Extension On Ubuntu 22.04/Debian [Updated] | Itsubuntu.com

• Tutorial To Install PHP Mcrypt Extension On Ubuntu 22.04/Debian [Updated]

• PHP developers have removed it from the PHP package bundle because of no further development in Mcrypt. Some of the alternatives to Php Mcrypt are Sodium (available as of PHP 7.2.0) and OpenSSL.

• But if you still want to use it then this tutorial is for you where we are going to show you the process to install PHP Mcrypt extensions on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

=> ↺ Install Kubernetes Cluster on Centos 8 With Kubeadm and CRI-O

• This guide will teach you how to deploy a Kubernetes Cluster on CentOS 8 by using kubeadm and with CRI-O Container runtime

=> ↺ How to install Microsoft Teams on Zorin OS 16 – Invidious

=> ↺ vga=792 removed from legacy boot mode

• When the Linux kernel is booted on a PC with legacy-BIOS firmware, the screen starts up in a text-mode. This is different from the graphics modes — the former just renders text characters and cannot display graphics.

• However, if the kernel passes a “vga=” or “video=” parameter, the video can be flipped into a graphics mode. I introduced “vga=792″ a few years ago for legacy-BIOS bootup, so as to display a logo and also to be able to run GUI apps within the initrd. I experimented with GUI apps to ask for keyboard layout and password.

• Windows computers manufactured from 2012 onwards have UEFI firmware, and this does startup in a graphics mode, so no parameter is required on the kernel commandline.

=> ↺ How to fix missing Linux header error for VMware Workstation – TREND OCEANS

• I tried to run VMware Workstation to install a secondary operating system to test functionality, but it flagged me an error: “VMware Kernel Module Updater: Kernel header X.X.X-X-amd64 were not found.”

• Intentionally I ignored the message and clicked on “Install” to proceed with the installation. As a result, I got another error which stated, “C header files matching your running kernel were not found”.

=> ↺ How To Set Up An SFTP Server On Rocky Linux 8 | LinuxTeck

• SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) is also called Secure FTP. It is a method for uploading and downloading files over an encrypted connection between two computers. Unlike FTP and FTPS, it works differently. Since SFTP is built upon the SSH (Secure Shell) protocol, version 2.0, it supports the full functionality of SSH, such as public-key encryption, to provide strong user authentication and secure encrypted communications over any reliable data stream.

• Although SSH is used in this context, it may also be used to transfer management information over VPNs and to secure file transfers using Transport Layer Security (TLS). SSH is a client-server protocol that allows for secure communication. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) developed and adopted SFTP to replace insecure shell protocols in 2006; it is an extension of SSH 2.

• FTP is a tool used for transferring data between computers. This service is no longer popular because it lacks security since this protocol reveals sensitive data and credentials in plain text. Hackers can easily steal data by using this protocol. Therefore, we recommend using SFTP in place of FTP, as it is more secure than the simple file transfer protocol (FTP and FTPS), and you can also protect your data with encoding features, cryptographic hashes, password sniffing, and authentication on the server and the client.

=> ↺ How To Install Laravel on CentOS Stream 9 – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Laravel on CentOS 9 Stream. For those of you who didn’t know, Laravel is the most popular PHP framework which is free and open source. Laravel has been developed as a framework that is based on PHP integrating open-source that has multiple tools for creating web applications of all kinds of sizes and complexity.

• 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 the step-by-step installation of the Laravel PHP framework on CentOS 9 Stream.

=> ↺ How To Install Syncthing on Debian 11 – idroot

• In this tutorial, we will show you how to install Syncthing on Debian 11. For those of you who didn’t know, Syncthing is a free and open-source file syncing application used to sync files between multiple remote devices over the internet. Syncthing does not upload your files to a central server like Nextcloud but exchanges your data directly between your devices. All your data is encrypted with TLS when transmitting between your devices. Syncthing is available for Linux, BSD, macOS, Windows, Android, and Solaris.

• 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 the Syncthing remote file synchronization on a Debian 11 (Bullseye).

=> ↺ A practical solution for GNU/Hurd’s lack of drivers: NetBSD’s rumpkernel framework

• GNU/Hurd is the original Free Software operating system started in the 1980s. Its microkernel design has been evolving over the years and the project has not quite hit mainstream use. I believe this is due to one main reason: the lack of drivers for peripherals and hardware. In this talk, I explain how NetBSD kernel drivers have been reused in a microkernel setting and demonstrate their use to boot up a GNU/Hurd system via a userspace rump disk driver, with a driverless Hurd kernel, gnumach. The ACPI management, PCI management, and actual driver are in separate processes with RPC interfaces between them, which separates out their debugging, licencing concerns and execution. I believe this aligns with the original vision for the operating system, (as a Hurd of servers).

=> ↺ How to instal Icinga2 on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal – Linux Shout

• Learn the steps to install the Icinga monitoring solution on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Focal Fossa desktop or server using the command terminal, in this tutorial.

• What is Icinga?

• Icinga is an open-source monitoring software platform available as a standalone solution that was originally released as a variant of Nagios. Unlike Nagios, Icinga has a modular architecture and a multi-threaded design.

• The web interface comes in different variants, which makes Icinga particularly adaptable. Similar to Nagios, the software can be expanded. However, it differs in that the configuration takes place via the web interface and not via configuration files.

Games

=> ↺ Best Linux Gaming Distros In 2022 For Gamers

• List Of Best Linux Gaming Distros In 2022 For Gamers.

• Gaming on Linux-based operating systems is a different experience. These days Linux is providing more support for various games. Game developers are slowly turning their attention to the Linux distros and they have started to develop games for the Linux distros too.

• You are at the right blog post if you are looking for the best Linux gaming distros in 2022 for gamers.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ Status update: Mass packaging, and mass learning – post #2

• As I had mentioned in my last post, I already knew the basics of packaging. Flatpak is certainly new for me though. I have used Flatpaks, but never published them.

• It was easy to learn packaging and writing manifests. I submitted a couple of easy applications to Flathub before the contribution period started, so as to get a good idea of what I’ll be doing during the coming weeks.

Distributions

=> ↺ Tails vs. Linux Kodachi: Which Privacy Protection Distro Should You Choose?

• When it comes to maintaining privacy on Linux, you have two options: Tails and Linux Kodachi. But which one should you go for? Let’s find out.

• When it comes to privacy protection, you can’t beat Linux. And for those who want the ultimate in privacy and security, two Linux distributions are leading the way: Tails and Linux Kodachi. Both distributions are self-contained, portable, and use the latest technologies to allow you to remain anonymous online without leaving any trace of your activity when you’re done.

• But what are the differences? And which ultra-private Linux distribution is right for you? We’re going to answer these questions by taking a look at the overall goals of these two specialized Linux distributions, how they are alike, and what makes them different.

Slackware Family

=> ↺ Slackware Cloud Server Series, Episode 4: Productivity Platform

• Welcome to the fourth episode in a series of articles that I am writing about using Slackware as your private/personal ‘cloud server’.

• Check out the list below which shows past, present and future episodes in the series, if the article has already been written you’ll be able to click on the subject.

Debian Family

=> ↺ Free Software Activities for 2021

• Most of my contributions to Free software continue to happen within Debian.

• As part of the Data Protection Team I responded to various inbound queries to that team. Some of this involved chasing up other project teams who had been slow to respond – folks, if you’re running a service that stores personal data about people then you need to be responsive to requests about it. Some of this was dealing with what look like automated scraping tools which send no information about the person making the request, and in all the cases we’ve seen so far there’s been no indication of any data about that person on any systems we have access to. Further team time was wasted dealing with the Princeton-Radboud Study on Privacy Law Implementation (though Matthew did the majority of the work on this).

• The Debian Keyring was possibly my largest single point of contribution. We’re in a roughly 3 month rotation of who handles the keyring updates, and I handled 2021.03.24, 2021.04.09, 2021.06.25, 2021.09.25 + 2021.12.24

• For Debian New Members I’m mostly inactive as an application manager – we generally seem to have enough available recently. If that changes I’ll look at stepping in to help, but I don’t see that happening. I continue to be involved in Front Desk, having various conversations throughout the year with the rest of the team, but there’s no doubt Mattia and Pierre-Elliott are the real doers at present. I did take part in an NM Committee appeals process.

• In terms of package uploads I continued to work on gcc-xtensa-lx106, largely doing uploads to deal with updates to the GCC version or packaging (8 + 9). sigrok had a few minor updates, libsigkrok 0.5.2-3, pulseview 0.4.2-3 as well as a new upstream release of sigrok CLI 0.7.2-1. There was a last minute pre-release upload of libserialport 0.1.1-4 thanks to a kernel change in v5.10.37 which removed termiox support.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ The Edge of the Cloud is Now in Space – Parabolic Arc

• The successful Lonestar demonstration mission included pivotal contributions from the digital artist Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm and her software team at ARTificial Mind with Niels Zibrandtsen of the Mind Future Foundation, open source software leader Canonical Ltd., and space commercialization leader Redwire Space. ARTificial Mind provided the digital content and blockchain capabilities. Canonical provided a unique “edge of network” kernel of Ubuntu Linux, the leading operating system for container, Cloud and hyperscale computing, to operate on the constrained space hardware aboard the ISS. Redwire Space leveraged their existing server hardware on the ISS from their microgravity 3D printing capability. Lonestar brought the concept and the team together in support of its customers in its work to bring data to the edge.

Devices/Embedded

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ The Q2, A PDP8-Like Discrete Transistor Computer | Hackaday

• [Joe Wingbermuehle] has an interest in computers-of-old, and some past experience of building computers on perfboard from discrete transistors, so this next project, Q2, is a complete implementation of a PDP8-like microcomputer on a single PCB. Like the DEC PDP-8, this is a 12-bit machine, but instead of the diode-transistor logic of the DEC, the substantially smaller Q2 uses a simple NMOS approach. Also, the DEC has core memory, but the Q2 resorts to a pair of SRAM ICs, simply because who wants to make repetitive memory structures with discrete 2N7002 transistors anyway?

• [...]

• A 40-pin header was added, for programming via a Raspberry Pi in case the front panel programming switches are proving a bit tedious and error prone.

=> ↺ How to Build a Morse Code Receiver with Raspberry Pi | Tom’s Hardware

• This tutorial is the second in a two part series for building a building-to-building morse code communications system. In it, we’ll explore how to create a morse code receiver using a Raspberry Pi and a Wyze camera. In a prior article, we explained how to build a morse code transmitter light with Raspberry Pi so this is for the receiving end of the communication.

• I recently moved into a new place, and discovered that my friend and I live in buildings that face each other. We’re about a kilometre apart, but both our balconies have line of sight to each other. I’ve always wanted to build a communications network with my friends since I was a kid, so I dusted off an old book about Morse, one of my Raspberry P’s and got to work. I’m a big fan of mixing old and new technologies, so instead of using something modern, I decided to use Morse code.

• This project is the second (and more difficult) part – receiving and interpreting morse code. Thankfully morse has constant time values for each component of the message, and we use that – with some error bands – to make assumptions about which letters are being transmitted based on the length of the light pulses. Here’s how to do it.

=> ↺ Designing devices for long-term care and reuse

• I love charity shops (what are called thrift shops in the US). In the UK they are so popular they account for almost half of all stores in some shopping streets. You can give unwanted clothes, furnishings, kitchen items, records, CDs, DVDs and books. Items are checked, cleaned and resold for pennies. The profits go to causes like health research, foreign aid, hotlines for abuse, suicide or drug problems, veterans help, animal welfare, and children’s aid. You can pick up great bargains like an expensive designer jacket or a rare, collectable music album.

• But mysteriously, a notable absence in many charity shops is technology. That seems strange because each year we throw away 50 million tons of phones, tablets, games consoles, remotes, TV screens, headphones, laptops, and digital cameras. Most end up crushed and exported to low-wage recycling facilities in countries with lax environmental regulations.

• [...]

• If adults shared phones and computers the way that children swap toys it would be much harder to tie individuals to digital actions. To this end there are two forms of propaganda akin to the “war against public transport” in the USA and elsewhere. One message suggests that sharing is a low status behaviour. The other spreads fear about “security and safety”.

• By pushing people to form psychological attachments to devices and to identify with their phone as a brand symbol and extension of themselves, advertisers insinuate an unmet need to carry a personal device. Just as open WiFi sharing was besmirched by the spectre of terrorists and child molesters using “your internet”, portraying sharing as a dirty, unhygienic affair like drug addicts sharing needles, shuts down our openness and willingness to efficiently use fewer devices.

• This over-individuation has led people to misuse smartphone technology, overloading one specific device as a citadel of personal data, identity, connection and access, and creating a single point of catastrophic failure or loss. Technically, this is an awful design.

• A better technical design to discourage waste is if devices are designed to be shared. How does this work? The personalised parts of a phone or tablet are a separate module from the “sharable” body. The body would contain the radio components, battery and display, while a small, easily swappable private part (a users enclave) would contain storage, contacts, call credits and private keys.

• This was the original idea behind the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) which was poorly implemented and has been mishandled, or plainly resisted by manufacturers from the get go. Similarly, modern computers have no good reason to contain a hard disk. To maximise reuse, all should boot only from removable storage and explicitly retain no state.

=> ↺ Open-Hardware Dog Treat Dispenser is a Stepping Stone For Behavioral Research

• The principles of open-source hardware are starting to make great strides in scientific research fields. [Walker Arce] tells us about his paper co-authored with [Jeffrey R. Stevens], about a dog treat dispenser designed with scientific researchers in mind – indispensable for behavior research purposes, and easily reproducible so that our science can be, too. Use of Raspberry Pi, NEMA steppers and a whole lot of 3D printed parts make this build cheap (< $200 USD) and easy to repeat for any experiments involving dogs or other treat-loving animals.

• Even if you’re not a scientist, you could always build one for your own pet training purposes – this design is that simple and easy to reproduce! The majority of the parts are hobbyist-grade, and chances are, you can find most of the parts for this around your workshop. Wondering how this dispenser works, and most importantly, if the dogs are satisfied with it? Check out a short demonstration video after the break.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ The 15 Best Ways To Recycle Your Phone Safely

=> ↺ The Best Games Like Wordle for Android – Baikoh, Letterpress, Typeshift and More – Droid Gamers

=> ↺ How To Get Adobe Photoshop On Android

=> ↺ How to speed up your Android smartphone with these 8 tips – Gizchina.com

=> ↺ Android 12′s customization shortcomings drove me back to third-party launchers and icon packs

=> ↺ Motorola MA1 Review: Wireless Android Auto for the rest of us

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

=> ↺ SearX, an Alternative to Google Scholar

• Do you want to search online for academic papers and journals? Many people use Google Scholar for that. For people who seek privacy, they might want to use an alternative, and Searx Science is very good for that. This article introduces you to use Searx to search scientific publications with easy examples and practices. Let’s start!

• [...]

• First look will give you a searX logo at the center, a search box, and a tiny ‘Advanced settings’ button. In general, all Searx instances will look the same as this. Once you did a search, the results would look like pictured below. However, SearxNG, a modified version of of Searx, has a slightly different look and feel.

Web Browsers

Mozilla

=> ↺ Jean-François Fortin Tam: Year MMXVIII summarized in 4 minutes

• Was thrilled that Mozilla finally got their sh!t together when it comes to performance in Firefox, with the initial release of Firefox Quantum in late 2017. This was one of the first times since 2010 where I had a somewhat solid argument to convince Chrome users to consider Firefox again. Personally however, I was stuck on pre-quantum Firefox up until 2019 due to my reliance on Quicksaver’s “Tab Groups” extension (the successor to the Panorama feature), which eventually got succeeded by Drive4ik’s “Simple Tab Groups” extension, which is an absolute must-have; if you’re a chaos warrior, use it—you’ll thank me later.

Productivity Software/LibreOffice/Calligra

=> ↺ LibreOffice 7.3.0 for Slackware 15.0 (and -current)

• LibreOffice Community Edition 7.3.0 was released last week… on the day we were preparing the Slackware 15.0 release. You’ll forgive me that my focus was elsewhere and that it took until today to upload a new set of packages for Slackware 15.0 and -current.

• The main selling point of the 7.3 release cycle is better interoperability with Microsoft’s Office file formats. Note that the Microsoft proprietary file formats are still based on a deprecated standard (since 2008 actually), whereas LibreOffice uses the ISO standard OpenDocument Format. These improvements center on three areas (text copied partly from the release notes)…

=> ↺ FOSDEM 2022 – News from the ODF Toolkit (with Notes) by Svante Schubert

• You can access and download Svante Schubert’s slides about “News from the ODF Toolkit” which was supposed to be features during FOSDEM 2022 but for some reason didn’t work out.

FSF

GNU Projects

=> ↺ LibreDWG – News: libredwg-0.12.5 released [Savannah]

Programming/Development

=> ↺ No ARM Printer Driver? Just Write Your Own | Hackaday

• When you think of the small machines that print the sticky labels on packages, you might not expect to find a complex printer with its own programming language (ZPL). However, [Dan Pastusek] was looking around online and found a small label printer on everyone’s favorite online warehouse for a great price that suggested it supported ZPL. Unfortunately, [Dan] had big dreams for creating a Raspberry Pi-based print station and found the drivers packaged for this particular printer were not ARM compatible. Not quite content to leave it there, he began to chip away at the layers until he had a working driver.

• ZPL, at its core, is just a language describing ASCII commands transmitted over a serial connection. So while the printer showed up as an endpoint, it wasn’t working as the filters (the part of the driver that knows how to convert from a PNG to ZPL) was x86 only. On Linux, printer drivers also have a PPD file that describes what a printer can handle in paper size and other settings. The PPD file for the little printer gave the first clue. In the ShortNickName field, it identifies itself as HPRT N41, which is a popular HP printer. So this little printer must be a clone of a printer in that family. Notably, they don’t support ZPL. Instead, the HPRT series support TSPL, another printer language developed by TSC.

Leftovers

Hardware

=> ↺ The Coolest Controller Mod, Hands Down | Hackaday

• Video games are a great way to relax, and sometimes get your heart rate up at the same time. But unless you’re playing something like Dance Dance Revolution, the controls pretty much always require the use of both hands. Even the old Atari controller benefited from using the other hand for support.

• But what if you don’t have the use of both hands? Or you have a repetitive stress injury? Or you just want to eat cheese curls with chopsticks while you play? [Akaki Kuumeri] has you covered with one of the hands-down greatest uses for 3D printing we’ve seen — a PlayStation DualShock 4 controller modified for one-handed use. If this looks familiar, it may be because [Akaki] made a PS5 controller version a while back, but who can get one of those, anyway?

Integrity/Availability

Proprietary

Security

Privacy/Surveillance

=> ↺ Google Warned About Passcode Theft

• Google told a U.S. lawmaker that it received a warning last May that a European technology company was “siphoning” user passcodes to aid surveillance carried out by foreign governments.

• Google told Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) that the company had been tipped off that Mitto may have been “siphoning off two-factor text messages for surveillance companies and their foreign government clients,” according to a Wyden aide.

• It’s not clear who made the allegation, which, if true, could have allowed foreign governments to access personal accounts. Google said it looked into the matter but “due to a lack of visibility into telecommunications…

Monopolies

=> ↺ FOSS Patents: Ericsson to ITC: Apple mischaracterizes our position on patent enforcement, and base stations are way harder to replace than smartphones, especially after Huawei ban

• This week is “Public Interest Statement Week” between Apple and Ericsson. Statements on the public interest with respect to the effect of import bans help the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC, or just ITC) as it determines whether to institute investigations and can delegate to the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) in charge of the investigation the analysis of potential public-interest concerns.

=> ↺ No IP, no right to information? CJEU to clarify scope of article 8 Enforcement Directive

• Under article 8(1) of the Enforcement Directive (Directive 2004/48/EC) a claimant in infringement proceedings can request a court to order certain parties to disclose information. This so-called ‘right to information’ includes information on the origin of the infringement (e.g. who manufactured the counterfeit goods) and its extent (the quantities produced or the price under which a good was sold). An action to obtain the information can be directed at the infringing party as well as third parties potentially involved in the infringement (producers, distributors etc.).

=> ↺ FOSS Patents: Ericsson and Apple may soon meet in Texas court over dueling FRAND claims: new filing calls Apple an “unlicensed [patent] infringer”

• Reading Ericsson’s late-Friday filings in the two FRAND cases in the Eastern District of Texas creates a bit of a High Noon feeling: a duel is in the air. Just a courtroom duel, fortunately.

• May I refer you to my Wednesday post on Apple’s reply in support of its motion to dismiss Ericsson’s (earlier-filed) case, which also contains a table that juxtaposes the parties’ procedural preferences. It’s fascinating to see this dispute unfold, with both parties playing the game at the highest level, but with Ericsson possibly having devised a strategy that Apple–no matter how hard and smart it tries–may not be able to thwart.

Patents

=> ↺ The Unified Patent Court And Unitary Patent – Introduction

=> ↺ fake news

• A new patent right and patent enforcement system is coming for patent protection in the Europe which is likely to commence at the end of 2022 or early 2023 depending on when the final preparations are in place.

=> ↺ UPC Roadshow February 2022

=> ↺ promoting a crime

• The Unitary Patent and Unified Patent Court (UPC) are coming – and Meissner Bolte is hitting the (virtual) Road!

=> ↺ Opinion: QCs must shun limelight if juniors are to thrive

• A senior judge, who predicts a spike in IP cases, says QCs’ tendency to dominate litigation is reducing juniors to mere “tiles on a screen”

=> ↺ Vorwerk wins against Lidl in dispute over kitchen appliance

• Lidl may no longer sell its Monsieur Cuisine kitchen machine. Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court issued the ruling in the second instance in a dispute with household electronics manufacturer Vorwerk. The court found that Lidl infringed a patent held by the German company for its Thermomix kitchen machine.

• Technically, the patent DE10226940 is for a heating technology used to cook food in the mixing bowl.

• [...]

• The dispute concerned German companies only, with Vorwerk not filing actions against the Chinese manufacturers.

=> ↺ Dutch courts could have international jurisdiction to hear FRAND claims

=> ↺ openly enabled (with help from the government) criminals from the EPO get away with crimes

• The District Court of The Hague has declared both international and territorial jurisdiction to decide on a FRAND case brought against patent pool Access Advance by Turkish television manufacturer Vestel. Access Advance had challenged this assertion based on three of four of its members not being domiciled in the Netherlands.

• However, the court decided that the parties’ connection to Netherlands-based Philips was strong enough to warrant the setting of a FRAND rate to cover the whole patent pool. As such, Vestel’s proceedings against the pool members on the merits of a FRAND licence will continue.

• This case is unusual in that implementer Vestel commenced proceedings, rather than the patent holder. Overall, the decision could have implications for other patent pools in the Netherlands, especially if the licensor is based in the Netherlands. The outcome of the next set of proceedings could open the door for the Dutch courts to decide FRAND determination.

=> ↺ Exclusive: Nordic IP chief quit FSA board before Nokia licensing deal

=> ↺ nonsense

• Nordic Semiconductor’s legal head told Managing IP it was time to change tack on the end device v component level licensing debate

=> ↺ UK IPO launches call for views on the Designs System

=> ↺ pretends

• The designs system enables rights holders to protect designs and enforce their rights. We are seeking views and evidence from users of the system so that we can ensure the UK’s designs framework works for the businesses, consumers and designers that use it.

• This will help us better understand how we can make the most of new opportunities and flexibilities now that we have left the EU, and how new and emerging technologies may impact the design system.

=> ↺ Kilburn & Strode hires Hoffmann Eitle director in Amsterdam

=> ↺ JUVE ads as ‘news’

• Ferro is now bringing his prior experience in the technology and semiconductor sector to expand Kilburn & Strode’s European practice.

=> ↺ USPTO Third Party Submissions

• Out of every 1,000 issued patents, only about 14 include prior art submissions from third parties.

• [...]

• The following are some recently issued patents that include third party submissions if you want to look through the file histories: 11,228,023; 11,225,200; 11,224,546; 11,224,456; 11,228,055; 11,221,486; 11,220,614; 11,219,722; 11,219,166.

=> ↺ FDA Approves Generic Restasis

• On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced approval to Mylan Pharmaceuticals for a generic form of Allergan’s RESTASIS® (Cyclosporine Ophthalmic Emulsion 0.05%) product for treatment of chronic dry eye. RESTASIS® is “a calcineurin inhibitor immunosuppressant indicated to increase tear production in patients whose tear production is presumed to be suppressed due to ocular inflammation associated with keratoconjunctivitis sicca.”

=> ↺ Public consultation opens on latest EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines

• The latest version of the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines will come into force on 1 March, and a preview version has been published today. In parallel the EPO has opened its public user consultation on these latest Guidelines. Users are invited to submit their comments in any one of the EPO’s three official languages via an online form. The deadline for contributions is 15 April 2022.

• [...]

• We encourage all patent professionals and interested stakeholders to take this opportunity to comment on the EPC and PCT-EPO Guidelines.

• The anonymised comments will be discussed with the members of the SACEPO Working Party on Guidelines in a meeting scheduled for May 2022.

=> ↺ Top 4 changes to the 2022 EPO Guidelines for Examination

=> ↺ corrupt EPO management

=> ↺ so much more

• The European Patent Office has today published an advance preview of its annual update to the Guidelines for Examination which will come into force on 1 March 2022.

• [...]

• Following G 1/19, which maintained the status quo by applying COMVIK to assess computer-implemented simulations, G-II, 3.3.2 has been updated to make it clearer how to approach establishing whether or not there is a technical effect when the claimed subject matter involves a simulation. The new discussion delineates different situations where simulations are involved, covering the gamut from purely numerical simulations with no direct link with physical reality, to simulations which interact with the outside world.

• Important concepts that were reinforced in G 1/19 are now emphasised in the Guidelines. In particular, that output data of a simulation may have a ‘potential technical effect’ – a technical effect that would be produced when the data is used according to an intended technical use.

• Correspondingly, G-VII, 5.4.1 has been updated to refer to G-II, 3.3.2 when formulating the objective technical problem for mixed technical and non-technical claims.

=> ↺ Proven Networks proven to be PAE in public interest statements — Unified Patents

• On January 27, 2022, Unified Patents filed a public interest statement in the ITC on the Proven Networks v. NetApp (inter alia) investigation. Unified focused on Proven Networks’ status as a litigation funded, investment-driven NPE run and controlled by the Russ, August, and Kabat firm. Read the public statement below and also find comments from a member of Congress, NetApp, and others.

Software Patents

=> ↺ Velos ’086 patent successfully challenged — Unified Patents

• On January 27, 2022, less than a year after Unified filed its request for ex parte reexamination, the USPTO issued a final office action rejecting all challenged claims of U.S. Patent 9,743,086, owned by Velos Media. Velos Media had designated the ’086 patent as essential to the HEVC standard. During reexamination, to overcome the rejections, Velos was forced to greatly amend the claims of the ’086 patent such that they are no longer essential.

=> ↺ MBHB Webinar on Patent-Eligibility and the Expanding Notion of Abstraction

=> ↺ blog as a platform

• McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP will be offering a live webinar entitled “The Expanding Reach of the Abstract Idea — What Is and Is Not Patentable Eight Years After Alice” on February 16, 2022 from 10:00 am to 11:15 am (CT). In this presentation, MBHB attorney and Patent Docs author Michael Borella will review the current state of patent eligibility and how the exclusionary principle is licking its lips. But in addition to sounding the alarm, he will offer attendees an unconventional take on what courts are actually looking for in order for claims to be found eligible — valuable information that might just save your inventions from judicial doom.

Trademarks

=> ↺ The TTABlog®: CAFC Affirms TTAB: “.SUCKS” (Stylized) Fails to Function as a Source Indicator for Domain Registry Operator Services

• In October 2020, the TTAB upheld failure-to-function refusals of the term .SUCKS in standard character and in stylized form (shown below), for domain registry services related to the gTLD in the proposed mark. [TTABlogged here]. Applicant Vox Populi appealed only the refusal of the stylized version of the mark, arguing that the stylization makes the proposed mark registrable. The court, however, found no error in the Board’s conclusion that the stylized form of .SUCKS fails to create a commercial impression separate from the unregistrable term .SUCKS. In re Vox Populi Registry Ltd., Appeal No. 2021-1496 (Fed. Cir. February 2, 2022) [precedential (Opinion by Judge Timothy B. Dyk).

• [...]

• The question, then, was whether the stylization of the stylized form rendered that mark registrable.The court observed that this issue requires a subjective determination “based on a viewer’s first impression.” The court cited several well known TTAB decisions as examples (stylized versions of CONSTRUCT-A-CLOSET (registrable), JACKSON HOLE (registrable), BUNDT (unregistrable), and SADORU (unregistrable), and then concluded that the Board did not err in ruling that the stylized form of .SUCKS fails to create a separate commercial impression.

=> ↺ TTABlog Test: How Did These Four Section 2(d) Appeals Turn Out?

• In January 2022, the Board decided twenty-two (22) appeals from Section 2(d) refusals. It affirmed them all. Here are the first four Section 2(d) decisions of this month. Has the streak been broken? How do you think they turned out? [Answers in first comment].

• In re Charlie’s Chalk Dust, LLC, Serial No. 88417905 (February 1, 2022) [not precedential] (Opinion by Judge Elizabeth A. Dunn). [Section 2(d) refusal of PACHAMAMA for, inter alia, "herbal tinctures" and "essential oils; non-medicated topical skin care preparations" all "containing naturally occurring trace amounts of CBD derived from hemp and less than .3% THC," in view of the registered mark PACHAMAMA PEOPLE for “Dietary and nutritional supplements made of herbs; Herbal tinctures for use as nutritional supplements; Herbal tinctures for use in healing.”]

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