● 01.25.23

Gemini version available ♊︎

● Links 25/01/2023: NuTyX 23.01.1 and GNU Guile 3.0.9 Released

Posted in News Roundup at 8:45 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

GNU/Linux

Audiocasts/Shows

=> ↺ Manjaro 22.0.1 KDE Plasma

• In This Video We Are Looking At Manjaro 22.0.1

=> ↺ Syslog-ng 101, part 5: Sources | Random thoughts of Peter ‘CzP’ Czanik

• This is the fifth part of my syslog-ng tutorial. Last time we had an overview of the syslog-ng configuration and had our first steps working with syslog-ng. Today we learn about syslog-ng source definitions and how to check the syslog-ng version and its enabled features.

=> ↺ 502: Too Big to Care | Coder Radio 502

• How the world without “big tech” might look like, the EU promises to go after Elon and a much-needed head adjustment.

=> ↺ 48: Rainbow Vomit Going Open Source: – Linux Out Loud – TuxDigital

• This week, Linux Out Loud chats about Cooler Master adding to open source.

• Welcome to episode 48 of Linux Out Loud. We fired up our mics, connected those headphones as we searched the community for themes to expound upon. We kept the banter friendly, the conversation somewhat on topic, and had fun doing it.

=> ↺ Are Chrome OS – Android Linux Distributions? – Invidious

• Android and ChromeOS are very clearly there own separate things but is it also fair to call them Linux distributions as well, today we explore that topic in excessive detail

=> ↺ LHS Episode #494: Linux Gaming Deep Dive

• Hello and welcome to Episode #494 of Linux in the Ham Shack. This is the first episode for 2023. To ease into the new year, the hosts have chosen a topic based purely in fun: playing games on Linux. Several options are explored and we take a quick look at the new LHS Minecraft server as well. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

=> ↺ EXGENT (GENTOO LINUX) 64BIT LIVE SYSTEM WITH LXDE, SYSTEMD AND KERNEL 6.1.7 :: BUILD 230121

• In This Video We Are Looking At exGENT 230121

=> ↺ Netrunner 23 “Vaporwave” overview | welcome to Netrunner. – Invidious

• In this video, I am going to show an overview of Netrunner 23 and some of the applications pre-installed.

Applications

=> ↺ Flatpak vs. Snap: 10 Differences You Should Know

• Flatpak and Snap packages are more popular than ever among Linux users who no longer prefer native binary packages or AppImages.

• Primarily because of its ease of use, integration with the software center, and the ability to get the latest app updates hassle-free.

=> ↺ QOwnNotes 23.1.2

• QOwnNotes is a open source (GPL) plain-text file notepad with markdown support and todo list manager for GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and Windows, that (optionally) works together with the notes application of ownCloud (or Nextcloud). So you are able to write down your thoughts with QOwnNotes and edit or search for them later from your mobile device (like with CloudNotes) or the ownCloud web-service. The notes are stored as plain text files and you can sync them with your ownCloud sync client. Of course other software, like Dropbox, Syncthing, Seafile or BitTorrent Sync can be used too.

=> ↺ Dippi – Tells if the Laptop/External Monitor Best Choice (HiDPI or LoDPI) | UbuntuHandbook

• Going to buy a new monitor or laptop, or want to calculate whether it’s a HiDPI display? Here’s a handy app can help!

• I previously thought that 4K and 8K displays are HiDPI, but 720p that I’m being using is LoDPI. It’s 100% wrong! HiDPI, stands for High Dots Per Inch, also known by Apple’s “Retina Display”. Meaning screens with a high resolution in a relatively small format.

• A HiDPI monitor may be good for displaying photo images or playing FPS games, but not all software behaves well in high-resolution mode yet. If you’re going to buy a monitor or calculate existing display DPI, then here’s a good app for choice.

• It’s ‘Dippi’, a free and open-source GTK4 application developed by a GNOME Foundation member.

Instructionals/Technical

=> ↺ How to easily and quickly clean your system and free disk space with BleachBit | ZDNET

• Your computer is filled with various types of files that you don’t need or want hanging around. Given the way we work these days, much of that comes by way of the web browser cache, downloaded files, and temporary files. If you don’t take care and remove those files, the applications that use or save them can become slow to respond or even not run at all.

=> ↺ How To Use ldd Command in Linux with Examples | Unixmen

• If you’re using a Linux machine, you will be dealing with executable files constantly – be it on the GUI or on your terminal. Executables are comprised of shared libraries, and these are used and reused across programs.

• Windows users might recognize that the DDL files on their machine are shared libraries. However, these files are stored on Linux with the .o and .so extensions.

• In this brief guide, we discuss how you can use the ldd utility on the Linux command line to view an executable’s shared objects and dependencies. But first, let’s understand what a shared object file is.

=> ↺ How to Schedule One-Time Jobs on Linux Using at

• Time management is a difficult art to master. Fortunately, with the help of technology, you can automate and delegate mundane tasks to your computer. Unlike humans, PCs are very good at running repetitive tasks at a precise set time.

• On Linux, you can run repetitive tasks using tools such as cron. In addition, you can also schedule and run one-time tasks using the at command.

=> ↺ How to Install the Latest Version of Wine on Ubuntu – OMG! Ubuntu!

• The new Wine 8.0 release boasts better-than-ever support for running Windows apps on Linux distributions such as Ubuntu.

• You can install Wine on Ubuntu from the Ubuntu Software app (or using apt at the command line), but the version of Wine available in Ubuntu is (almost always) an older version than that currently available.

• If you want to install the latest stable version of Wine on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS or 22.10 follow the steps below, which I’ve adapted from the instructions available on the WineHQ wiki.

=> ↺ How to Install VMware Workstation Player on Ubuntu 22.04

• This guide walks you step-by-step through installing VMware Workstation Player virtualization software on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

• Installing VMware Workstation Player on Ubuntu 22.04 is a simple process that allows you to run virtual machines on your system. It is a free, lightweight version of VMware Workstation Pro, a popular Windows and Linux virtualization software.

• With VMware Workstation Player, you can create and run multiple virtual machines on a single physical machine, each with its operating system. This makes it a valuable tool for developers, system administrators, and anyone who needs to run different operating systems for testing or development purposes.

• This guide will walk you through installing VMware Workstation Player on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, so let’s get started.

=> ↺ How to use MASTODON: the COMPLETE GUIDE (join, use, find people to follow, etiquette…) – Invidious

=> ↺ How to schedule restarts and shutdowns on Linux

• Ever wanted to schedule when your Linux PC turns off? With the Time Switch app, you can. It allows you to schedule when your Linux system powers off when it reboots or even suspends. Here’s how to get it working on your system.

=> ↺ How to add fields to a LibreOffice document | ZDNET

• How many times have you created a document and had to add specific items, such as the current date, the number of pages, the author of the document, the time, a chapter, a file name, document statistics, a company name, or more?

=> ↺ How To Install the Apache Guacamole Remote Desktop Gateway | Unixmen

• There is no shortage of applications that enable administrators to connect to their servers. But using different applications for different purposes can get hectic, to say the least.

• Thankfully, there’s a smarter way to do things – and it’s existed since 2013.

• Enter: Apache Guacamole.

• It is a clientless remote desktop gateway that supports the RDP, VNC, and SSH protocols. The best thing about it is that you only need a web browser to work with it once it’s set up. No extensions or tools are needed to use this open-source tool!

• Here’s a quick guide to setting up Apache Guacamole.

=> ↺ Downgrading from MySQL 8.0 on Windows, Mac, and Linux

• MySQL is a popular open-source relational database management system that is widely used for web-based applications and data management. MySQL 8.0 is the latest version of the software, but sometimes you may need to downgrade to an earlier version for compatibility reasons or to fix issues that may have arisen after upgrading.

• Downgrading MySQL can be a bit tricky, but it’s not impossible. In this article, we will take a look at the steps you need to take to downgrade from MySQL 8.0 on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

=> ↺ Upgrading to MySQL 8.0 on Windows, Mac, and Linux

• MySQL is a popular open-source relational database management system that is widely used for web-based applications and data management. MySQL 8.0 is the latest version of the software, but sometimes you may need to downgrade to an earlier version for compatibility reasons or to fix issues that may have arisen after

=> ↺ Managing the MySQL Server with systemd

• MySQL is one of the most popular relational database management systems in the world, and version 8.0 brings a host of new features and improvements. In this article, we’ll take a look at how to upgrade to MySQL 8.0 on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Desktop Environments/WMs

K Desktop Environment/KDE SC/Qt

=> ↺ KDE Plasma 5.27 Beta is Ready for Testing – Linux Magazine

• The latest beta iteration of the KDE Plasma desktop is now available and includes some important additions and fixes.

• KDE Plasma 5.27 beta was recently announced, which is aimed at testers, developers, and bug-hunters. And one of the more exciting additions is the new Bigscreen version, which makes the KDE Desktop available for use on televisions.

• There also is a new addition to the Display Configuration widget, which now appears active in System Tray by default, when you have more than one monitor connected. The Big Multi-Monitor refactor makes working with multiple screens more reliable and gives you fine-grained controls when you have three or more monitors.

• The KWin Tiling System is also ready for testing. Using the Meta-T keyboard combination, you can launch the quick tiling features to give you complete control of where your windows are placed.

GNOME Desktop/GTK

=> ↺ GUADEC 2023 Conference Takes Place July 26-31 in Riga, Latvia, for GNOME 44

• Just like last year’s GUADEC 2022 conference, the GUADEC 2023 event will offer a hybrid model where attendees can join in person or online. If you’re joining in person, you should know that the conference will take place in Latvia’s capital, Riga, for the first time in Europe since 2019.

• GUADEC is the place where GNOME users and developers from all over the world gather together to share knowledge and discuss the new features and changes of the next major release of the GNOME desktop environment, in this case for the GNOME 44 series, which launches in late March 2023.

Distributions and Operating Systems

=> ↺ Windows 10 vs Linux Mint: A Comprehensive Comparison

• For users who don’t want to switch to Windows 11 from Windows 10 and want to adopt Linux Mint; here is a quick comparison between the two operating systems. I hope this helps in making the decision.

=> ↺ 5 Best free to use Linux Server distributions for 2023 – Linux Shout

• Linux is an open-source software platform developed initially for home computers but later become a dominant Server operating system. Linux Server OS are popular because of their small size and ability to quickly convert to perform some specific operations such as Web server, File server, monitoring tool, etc. That’s why you will see almost all computing cloud platforms prefer Linux servers to distribute their computing services.

• Apart from powring thousands of racks at hosting companies, in server farms, and at cloud providers, you can also see Linux command line servers nested in container instances or virtual machines, in short Linux keeps the Internet alive. As a server, Linux today supports more architectures and processors than any other kernel – from very large to very small.

New Releases

=> ↺ NuTyX 23.01.1 available with cards 2.6.3

• This new release is the landmark of the 15 year anniversary of NuTyX.

• Spiky and me are happy to announce the new version of NuTyX 23.01.1 and cards 2.6.3 .

• New toolchain gcc 12.2.0, glibc 2.36 and binutils 2.40 .

• SysV in 3.06 and systemd in 252.4 .

• The xorg-server graphics server version 21.1.6, the Mesa 3D library in 22.3.3, Gtk4 4.8.3 and Qt 6.4.2 .

• The python interpreter is updated to version 3.11.1.

• The XFCE desktop environment is updated to version 4.18.1.

• The MATE desktop environment is a 1.26.0 version .

• The GNOME desktop environment is also updated to version 43.2

• The KDE desktop environment is available in Plasma 5.26.5, Framework 5.102.0 and applications in 23.01.1.

• Available browsers are: Firefox 109.0.1, Chromium 109.0.5414.74, Epiphany 43.0, etc

• Many desktop applications have been updated as well like Telegram-desktop 4.5.3, Thunderbird 102.6.1, Scribus 1.5.8, Libreoffice 7.4.4.2, Gimp 2.10.32, etc.

SUSE/OpenSUSE

=> ↺ openSUSE Leap 15.3 has reached end of life

• With the release of the last update (tor) on January 16th, 2023 the SUSE sponsored maintenance of openSUSE Leap 15.3 has ended.

• openSUSE Leap 15.3 is now officially discontinued and out of support by SUSE.

• The currently maintained stable release is openSUSE Leap 15.4, which will be maintained until around end of 2023 (same lifetime as SLES 15 SP4 regular support).

Red Hat and Fedora

=> ↺ How to use Red Hat Insights malware detection service

• Did you know that Red Hat Insights for Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) can be used to help detect the presence of malware? This makes it more likely that you’ll know when a RHEL system has sustained a malware attack. The effectiveness of Insights for this purpose is enhanced by threat intelligence subscriptions from IBM X-Force, in collaboration with Red Hat.

• The Insights malware-detection service is a monitoring and assessment tool that scans RHEL systems for the presence of known malware. The system incorporates YARA pattern-matching software and detection signatures.

=> ↺ Simplified multi-cloud open RAN orchestration and management

=> ↺ Deploying Red Hat OpenShift Service on AWS

• Many companies choose Red Hat OpenShift as the common platform to develop and run all their applications. By doing so, they avoid a heterogeneous environment that can create a lot of complexity. Not only do they build and run new cloud-native applications on Red Hat OpenShift, but they can also migrate their legacy ones to it.

• One of the main advantages of using OpenShift is that developers only need to learn one interface while the underlying details of the platform are abstracted away. This can result in significant productivity increases.

=> ↺ Cockpit 284

• Cockpit is the modern Linux admin interface. We release regularly.

=> ↺ Packit Team: Automatic pulling of upstream releases to Fedora

• In the previous year, we automated the Fedora downstream release process in Packit. The first step of the release process, propagating the upstream release to Fedora, is covered by the propose_downstream job. This job updates the sources in Fedora, the spec file, and other needed files and creates pull requests with the changes in the dist-git repository.

Canonical/Ubuntu Family

=> ↺ Ubuntu 23.04 Makes Telegram a Deb-to-Snap Transitional Package – OMG! Ubuntu!

• If you run sudo apt install telegram-desktop in Ubuntu 23.04 it will install a Telegram Snap instead of the Debian package you might expect.

• Ubuntu developers are currently debating whether to back-port the transitional package to earlier, stable versions of Ubuntu, such as the latest long-term support release.

• But why are they doing this?

Open Hardware/Modding

=> ↺ Arduglasses – Hackster.io

• The glasses are made out of printed circuit boards from OSH Park. The electronics driving the two displays are entirely on the right side stem of the glasses along with a small 100mAh rechargeable battery that will run the glasses for a little more than an hour. The left side stem is the same PCB, just unpopulated.

• Flex Cable wrapped around PCB

=> ↺ BlueSCSI v2 Pico announced for retrocomputing storage

• BlueSCSI is an open source, open hardware, and open design SCSI solution for vintage computers.

• The original version 1.x devices use a “Blue Pill” microcontroller board based on ST chips. Due to the chip shortages, clone ST chips have often been used.

=> ↺ A tiny “AT” (modem/communications) command parser

• The AT/Hayes communications command set has been in use since the Hayes 300 modem in 1981. It’s a set of commands sent to a controller, setting parameters for communications. Being ubiquitous, it helps not to have to learn yet another set of commands for a new piece of hardware.

=> ↺ Harlow College students build CubeSats using Raspberry Pi Pico

• The CubeSat platform is based around the Raspberry Pi Pico, consisting of three parts to the design: an acquisition board loaded with a camera and various sensors and storage; a master controller board with a radio link; and a ground station containing a radio link and decoder software. All three boards use the Raspberry Pi Pico, and the software is written with a mix of MicroPython and CircuitPython across the three boards.

=> ↺ A secure LoRa Mesh communications network

• Thomas has built a secure communications network leveraging the plug-and-play qualities of the Raspberry Pi 4 and the Adafruit LoRa Radio Bonnet. It is the software side of this system that really turns these parts into something useful.

Mobile Systems/Mobile Applications

=> ↺ TCL ION X Android smartphone comes to Metro by T-Mobile tomorrow

=> ↺ The U.S. carrier-locked Galaxy Z Fold 2 starts to receive its final major Android update – PhoneArena

=> ↺ Android 14 could stop you from installing older apps – and that’s a good thing | TechRadar

=> ↺ Warning for all Android owners – simple trick can save you from major danger | The US Sun

=> ↺ People are only just realizing there’s an Android setting that gives you access to multiple screens | The US Sun

=> ↺ Wallpaper Wednesday: Android wallpapers 2023-01-25 – Android Authority

=> ↺ Google to make changes to Android business terms in India after antitrust order • TechCrunch

=> ↺ Google’s making major changes to the way Android works in India

=> ↺ Google’s changing Android billing, search, and licensing in India – The Verge

=> ↺ How to enable developer mode in Android Auto, why you should

=> ↺ How to Merge Duplicate Contacts on Android

=> ↺ How Android is changing in India following antitrust ruling

=> ↺ How to Use an Android Device to Monitor Your Network and Devices in Real Time

=> ↺ Android phone won’t charge? Try these handy tricks

Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

Web Browsers/Web Servers

Chromium

=> ↺ Chrome Releases: Beta Channel Update for Desktop

• The Chrome team is excited to announce the promotion of Chrome 110 to the Beta channel for Windows, Mac and Linux. Chrome 110.0.5481.52 contains our usual under-the-hood performance and stability tweaks, but there are also some cool new features to explore – please head to the Chromium blog to learn more!

=> ↺ Chrome Releases: Chrome Beta for Android Update

• Hi everyone! We’ve just released Chrome Beta 110 (110.0.5481.50) for Android. It’s now available on Google Play.

FSF

=> ↺ A pair of Free Software Foundation governance changes [LWN.net]

• The Free Software Foundation has announced a bylaw change requiring a 66% vote by the FSF board for any new or revised copyright licenses. The FSF has also announced an expansion of its board of directors and a call for nominations from among its associate members.

GNU Projects

=> ↺ GNU Guile 3.0.9 released

• We are pleased to announce the release of GNU Guile 3.0.9!

Programming/Development

=> ↺ Nibble Stew: Typesetting an entire book part V: Getting it published

• Writing a book is not that difficult. Sure, it is laborious, but if you merely keep typing away day after day, eventually you end up with a manuscript. Writing a book that is “good” or one that other people would want to read is a lot harder. Still, even that is easy compared to trying to get a book published. According to various unreferenced sources on the Internet, out of all manuscripts submitted only 1 in 1000 to 1 in 10 000 gets accepted for publication. Probabilitywise this is roughly as unlikely casting five dice and getting six with all of them.

• Having written a manuscript I went about tying to get it published. The common approach in most countries is that first you have to pitch your manuscript to a literary agent, and if you succeed, they will then try to pitch it to publishers. In Finland the the procedure is simpler, anyone can submit their manuscripts directly to book publishing houses without a middle man. While this makes things easier, it does not help with deciding how much the manuscript should be polished before submission. The more you polish the bigger your chances of getting published, but the longer it takes and the more work you have to do if the publisher wants to make changes to the content.

=> ↺ Escaping characters in translation strings in initrd

=> ↺ Socorro Engineering: 2022 retrospective | Will’s Blog

• 2022 took forever. At the same time, it kind of flew by. 2023 is already moving along, so this post is a month late. Here’s the retrospective of Socorro engineering in 2022.

=> ↺ Google Summer of Code 2023 Now Accepting Applications for Mentor Organizations

• Applications are now being accepted for mentor organizations to participate in Google Summer of Code 2023 (GSoC).

• According to the announcement, Google has set a goal of welcoming 30+ new organizations into the GSoC program. If you’re interested in participating, check out the mentor guide to learn what is involved. New organizations are also encouraged “to get a referral from experienced organizations that think they would be a good fit to participate in GSoC,” the announcement says.

Perl / Raku

=> ↺ My Favorite Modules: PerlIO::via | Tom Wyant [blogs.perl.org]

• OK, I confess: PerlIO::via is not a module that I use every day. It allows you, easily, and with minimal code, to modify an I/O stream before it gets to the reader of the stream. or after the writer has written it. All you do is write (say) My::Module conforming to the parts of the PerlIO::via interface you need, and provide it to the second argument of open() or binmode() as ‘:via(My::Module)’. How cool is that? And how cool is a language that lets you do that with a minimum of fuss, bother, and code?

• I encountered this when trying to modify (OK, hack) the behavior of a large and complex hunk of Perl not under my control. Rummaging around in this turned up the fact that all file input went through a single module/object, which had an open() method. I realized if I could insert my own PerlIO layer into the input stream, I would have control over what the victim host code saw.

• In the true spirit of the Conan the Barbarian school of programming (“Bash it until it submits!”) I wrote a PerlIO::via module whose import() method monkey-patched the open() to insert my layer into the stack. All I had to do was launch the host code with -MMy::Module and the dirty deed was done.

Python

=> ↺ Getting A Random Number in Python? Easier Than You Think #python #coding #programming – Invidious

Rust

=> ↺ A small Rust program – Sam Thursfield

• I wrote a small program in Rust called cba_blooper. Its purpose is to download files from this funky looper pedal called the Blooper.

• It’s the first time I finished a program in Rust. I find Rust programming a nice experience, after a couple of years of intermittent struggle to adapt my existing mental programming models to Rust’s conventions.

• When I finished the tool I was surprised by the output size – initially a 5.6MB binary for a tool that basically just calls into libasound to read and write MIDI. I followed the excellent min-sized-rust guide and got that down to 1.4MB by fixing some obvious mistakes such as actually stripping the binary and building in release mode. But 1.4MB still seems quite big.

Leftovers

=> ↺ What Can We Learn from Barnes – Noble’s Surprising Turnaround?

• I’ve written too many negative stories about digital media platforms in recent months. I’ve started to worry. Am I turning into Dr. Doom and Mr. Gloom?

• In all fairness, my predictions have proven sadly accurate. After I served up these dismal forecasts for Facebook, Spotify, Netflix, and others, their share prices took a steep dive.

• I’m not sure that’s a good thing—I’d like to see digital media improve and flourish. When they falter, we all pay a price. But each of these companies is now suffering for a good reason. Their dominance led to arrogance, and they decided to impose all sorts of heavy-handed policies on users.

=> ↺ Mis-swiping the Point

• Public infrastructure is a reflection of a community’s values. Americans, however, are disconnected to what public infrastructure says about our values. We’ll claim the U.S. is the greatest country on earth, yet accept potholes and failing schools as a fact of life. In a larger sense, public infrastructure is a clear sign of a government’s priorities and even what a government thinks about a specific community. Clean streets and robust public spending shows where and who governments value. This is generally pretty obvious like with police responsiveness to community needs or well-maintained community spaces. The issues facing forgotten neighborhoods and communities can manifest in truly nefarious ways that undercut the ability of individuals to improve their lives. Today’s Tedium is going underground to look at the New York City subway system and why paying per ride might cost you your job.

Hardware

=> ↺ $199+ Morefine M9 mini PC is powered by an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N processor – CNX Software

• Morefine says the mini PC can run Windows 10, Windows 11, Ubuntu, or other Linux distributions, but unless you are getting the barebone model, the company will preinstall Windows 11 on the device.

Linux Foundation

=> ↺ Linux Foundation’s Sustainability Project Leaders Reflect on Climate Change Challenges at COP27

=> ↺ takes funds from the world’s most polluting companies to serve their agenda

=> ↺ OpenSSF Aimed to Stem Open Source Security Problems in 2022

=> ↺ anti-Linux Foundation

• In 2022, the Open Source Software Foundation (OpenSSF) set its sights on fixing security problems with the open software supply chain. including joining forces with companies including Apache, Google, Apple, and AWS, and meeting at the White House with the U.S. government’s executive branch.

Security

=> ↺ Top 10 Open Source Vulnerability Assessment Tools | ESP

• Vulnerability assessment tools scan assets for known vulnerabilities, misconfigurations, and other flaws. These scanners then output reports for IT security and application development operations (DevOps) teams that feed prioritized tasks into ticketing and workflow systems for remediation.

• Open source vulnerability testing tools provide cost-effective vulnerability detection solutions. Many IT teams even deploy one or more open source tools in addition to commercial vulnerability scanning tools as backup, or as a check to verify vulnerabilities. In our analysis, here are the best open source vulnerability tools for 2023.

=> ↺ Cybercriminals Use VSCode Extensions as New Attack Vector

• And Aqua Nautilus researchers have discovered a big one.

=> ↺ Security updates for Wednesday

• Security updates have been issued by Debian (libde265, nodejs, and swift), Fedora (nautilus), Oracle (bash, bind, curl, dbus, expat, firefox, go-toolset, golang, java-1.8.0-openjdk, java-11-openjdk, java-17-openjdk, libreoffice, libtiff, libxml2, libXpm, nodejs, nodejs-nodemon, postgresql-jdbc, qemu, ruby:2.5, sqlite, sssd, sudo, and usbguard), Red Hat (bind, go-toolset-1.18, go-toolset:rhel8, kernel, kernel-rt, kpatch-patch, pcs, sssd, and virt:rhel, virt-devel:rhel), Scientific Linux (bind, java-1.8.0-openjdk, kernel, and sssd), SUSE (mozilla-nss, rubygem-websocket-extensions, rust1.65, rust1.66, and samba), and Ubuntu (mysql-5.7, mysql-5.7, mysql-8.0, pam, and samba).

=> ↺ CISA, NSA, and MS-ISAC Release Advisory on the Malicious Use of RMM Software | CISA

• Today, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) released joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) Protecting Against Malicious Use of Remote Monitoring and Management Software. The advisory describes a phishing scam in which cyber threat actors maliciously use legitimate remote monitoring and management (RMM) software to steal money from victim bank accounts.

=> ↺ VMware Releases Security Updates for VMware vRealize Log Insight | CISA

• VMware released security updates to address multiple vulnerabilities in VMware vRealize Log Insight. A remote attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.

Censorship/Free Speech

=> ↺ Delhi High Court issues notice in the blocking case of satirical website

• Mr Tanul Thakur’s satirical website, dowrycalculator.com was banned by an order of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (‘MeitY’) without providing him a hearing or even a copy of the ban order. Mr Thakur challenged this censorship action before the Delhi High Court December 5, 2019. On May 11 2022, the Court directed MeitY to provide Mr Thakur a copy of the ban order and a post-decisional hearing under the Information Technology (Procedure and safeguards for blocking of Access of Information by public) Rules, 2009 (“Blocking Rules, 2009”). Subsequent to the post-decisional hearing, Mr. Thakur was informed that MeitY decided to continue its ban on his website. The Delhi High Court requested that Mr. Thakur should file a fresh writ petition including a challenge to MeitY’s 2022 decision to continue blocking of the website. Mr. Thakur with the legal assistance of IFF, has filed a writ petition before the Delhi High Court challenging the same. The matter was heard on January 23, 2023 and the court was pleased to issue notice in the matter.

Monopolies

Copyrights

=> ↺ Illusory Wealth: Victor Dubreuil’s Cryptic Currencies – The Public Domain Review

• After supposedly stealing 500,000 francs from his bank, the mysterious Victor Dubreuil (b. 1842) turned up penniless in the United States and began to paint dazzling trompe l’oeil images of dollar bills. Once associated with counterfeiting and subject to seizures by the Treasury Department, these artworks are evaluated anew by Dorinda Evans, who considers Dubreuil’s unique anti-capitalist visions among the most daring and socially critical of his time.

=> ↺ Introducing PDR Revisited – The Public Domain Review

• We are revisiting older posts in our collection to give them some much needed love.

• [...]

• If you venture into the Collections section of The Public Domain Review, you will experience considered meditations on a broad range of subjects: from medieval pattern poems to the emotional lives of pigeons, from Albrecht Dürer’s pillows to various attempts to visualise and chart history. But if you venture far enough down the rabbit holes of our site, you will also encounter posts limited to just a few sentences, which do not always do full justice to the curious objects they describe.

• These posts were, with little exception, written in the early days of PDR — the best efforts of an overworked sole editor trying to wear too many hats and overheating in the process. While these early posts serve as reminders for how much the site has evolved since those first forays, they can make for a jarring experience, pulling us away from a state of mind where ideas and images, from across our project’s history, are allowed to converse freely.

Gemini* and Gopher

Personal

=> ↺ The Stonecutter, Part 1

• I heard this story many years ago and was told that it’s an old Chinese tale. Recently I came to think about it again for no particular reason and when I told it to my kids they were captivated. Seems appropriate that I share it, although it’s no doubt been re-told better in hundreds of other places.

• It’s quite a bit to write so I’ll be splitting it in several parts until it’s done, however many that might be. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Technical

=> ↺ Can robot brains break laws human brains can’t?

• I think it is safe to say that most everyone has heard about ChatGPT, DALL-E, and the handful of other new AI driven services that generate content via human prompts. For those who haven’t heard, one of th leaders in image generation, Stability.ai is being sued by multiple groups for copyright infringement due to it’s use of millions of online images in the process of teaching its AI to draw.

=> ↺ First time messing with Sway

• It’s Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year), whatever and I have a long vocation with my family, being lazy and whatnot. I decided to today I’m too bored to do anything scrious. I ended up trying to use a tiling window manager for once. Why? Because they feels very cool the first time I saw somone using one (I think it was i3). And because the claimed productivity imrovments over a floating model.

• I am a long time Gnome user. I feel I’m very efficent on Gnome. Can Sway improve upon that? We’ll see.

Programming

=> ↺ Floating Point Fun

• FLoating point math did not get the memo that the magnitude of the velocity of a circular orbit should be constant. The direction of that constant velocity is always changing (like a rolling stone) which under floating point math gives ample opportunity for small errors to accumulate and thus consigns the aliens of the week to (probably) the oblivion that is deep space.

=> ↺ Everyone, learn how to code

• For once, Internet was good today instead of just a constant bruising source of pain and misery.

=> ↺ Using libsodium

• Libsodium is a wrapper around the Nacl cryptography library which simplifies the handling of buffers.

• Gemini (Primer) links can be opened using Gemini software. It’s like the World Wide Web but a lot lighter. Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. Permalink  Send this to a friend

=> Techrights

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