Linux Experiences/Rants or Education/Certifications thread - March 16, 2020

Welcome to r/linux rants and experiences! This megathread is also to hear opinions from anyone just starting out with Linux or those that have used Linux (GNU or otherwise) for a long time.

Let us know what's annoying you, whats making you happy, or something that you want to get out to r/linux but didn't make the cut into a full post of it's own.

For those looking for certifications please use this megathread to ask about how to get certified whether it's for the business world or for your own satisfaction. Be sure to check out r/linuxadmin for more discussion in the SysAdmin world!

_Please keep questions in r/linuxquestions, r/linux4noobs, or the Wednesday automod thread._

https://redd.it/fjevdq
@r_linux

I added a new drop entry to my IP tables firewall and you wouldn't believe the number of connections dropped from the 10 bad actors countries.

I'll start off by saying I run a few gaming servers on my Linux server at my house. I kept having issues with cheaters on the two games. I got tired of dealing with it and decided to look into dropping packets destined from specific geographic areas.

1. I built a noscript that pulls down the aggregated IP range list from 10 what I consider "BAD ACTOR" countries. (Today this list total was 21033 aggregated IP ranges)
2. I installed and created a hash table in my kernel called "badactors" using *ipset*.
3. I created a firewall rule to drop and log with the label "BADACTOR" to my kernel log.
4. To watch the log I open a new TMUX session and issued the command

​

tail -n 100 -f /var/log/kern.log | grep "BADACTOR"

I got it all working about an hour ago. In space between then and now, it has logged 156 dropped connection attempts. I used the IP WHOIS lookup to verify some of the connections.

This is a serious eye-opener for me. I mean you hear in the news places are actively trying to hack the US. But until you see this kind of RAW data you don't realize how prevalent it actually is.

​

https://redd.it/fjcqnp
@r_linux

Linux "underground" youtubers?

I follow some channels that talks about about linux and more underground stuff, like window managers, noscripting, customisation, suckless software, etc.

Some of the channels I watch include:

\[Luke Smith\] ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2eYFnH61tmytImy1mTYvhA](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2eYFnH61tmytImy1mTYvhA))

\[tripcode!Q/7\] ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZrrEuHiQjN2CUo84g5tk7w](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZrrEuHiQjN2CUo84g5tk7w))

\[Wolfgang's Channel\] ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnGwSIHyoYN0kiINAGUKxg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsnGwSIHyoYN0kiINAGUKxg))

\[Mental Outlaw\] ([https://www.youtube.com/user/MentalOutlawStudios](https://www.youtube.com/user/MentalOutlawStudios))

and, of course \[DistroTube\] ([https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVls1GmFKf6WlTraIb\_IaJg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVls1GmFKf6WlTraIb_IaJg))

do you know more channels like those?

https://redd.it/fj3qby
@r_linux

Cursed ibus. I though `-r` would kill the old one...
https://redd.it/fj6fpc
@r_linux

So what desktop do you use? Uhhhhhh
https://redd.it/fj9lns
@r_linux

Remote Learning

With the coronavirus mess going on, all of my uni courses are moving online.
Some of them are using this proprietary program called "zoom", right off the bat things look fishy as the official instructions call for downloading a binary from their website (even though for example in Arch Linux there's a package in the AUR).
Does anyone know how much of a spyware program this is? If so, isn't it just a better idea to dump this all in a VM?

https://redd.it/fjhvrp
@r_linux

The ARM laptop future and software compatibility

I am pretty excited about how personal computing will change due to the move towards ARM chips in laptops. The new Pinebook Pro https://www.pine64.org/pinebook-pro/ is an example, and I’ve also seen predictions that Apple will move in that direction.

Even though I used Macintosh during the PPC to Intel transition, there are many things I don’t know about the hardware and OS in relation to software compatibility.

If i got the pinebook, what would the state of software compatibility be? Would it be able to install and run Blender, Libre Office or games with Steam Proton without a compatibility layer? Would Wine work to install for example MS Word or games like Diablo 2? Where is the limit for compatibility?

Also, what do you think about the transition towards ARM in general? What are the benefits and consequences for personal and professional computing?

https://redd.it/fjiss4
@r_linux

The most surprising Unix programs
https://minnie.tuhs.org/pipermail/tuhs/2020-March/020664.html

https://redd.it/fjj6rn
@r_linux

Flutter for the Linux desktop - early experimentation
https://github.com/flutter/flutter/wiki/Desktop-shells

https://redd.it/fjjovk
@r_linux

AMD looks to court Linux gamers by making its GPU driver even better
https://www.techradar.com/news/amd-looks-to-court-linux-gamers-by-making-its-gpu-driver-even-better

https://redd.it/fjkrer
@r_linux

A lot of the links at FLOSSManuals.net are dead

Hi,

Not sure where to post this, but GNU.org recommends [flossmanuals.net](https://www.flossmanuals.net/), and a lot of the links on that site are dead. E.g. both the pdf and epub links for downloading the Firefox guide give 404s.

The site might just be abandoned, I don't know -- it doesn't look like it's been updated anytime recently. I just thought I'd mention the dead links, since it's sponsored by GNU.

https://redd.it/fjk501
@r_linux

Linux++ (March 15, 2020)
https://medium.com/linux-plus-plus/linux-march-15-2020-16413dde8471

https://redd.it/fjjcc4
@r_linux

Exclusively Using Terminal Apps

For those of you who almost, if not, exclusively use terminal applications, how have you been finding the experience as opposed to using a DE/GUI? What distro is best to use for this? What are your reasons for doing so?

https://redd.it/fiy30s
@r_linux

What is fsck up to now?
https://toroid.org/what-is-fsck-up-to-now

https://redd.it/fjnwft
@r_linux

How NixOS Is Enabling Edge and IoT Projects - Armv8 Collaboration
https://www.worksonarm.com/blog/how-nixos-is-enabling-edge-and-iot-projects

https://redd.it/fjphk9
@r_linux

What's the closest you can get to "pure" GNU as Stallman intended?

AFAIK all distros include various third-party software: the kernel, systemd, a custom package manager, and so on. Let's say I don't want any of that. https://www.gnu.org/software/software.html says GNU software is available by several different methods, but all of them are either "use a distro that's a mixed bag of GNU and third-party" or "here's a list of packages, download the ones you want."

So I'm seeing 2 options: download every GNU package (including hurd or linux-libre) and assemble my own distro, or download an existing distro and uninstall everything that isn't GNU. My question is, would either of those result in a functional OS?

https://redd.it/fjoozp
@r_linux

Fedora community and the COVID-19 crisis - Fedora Magazine
https://fedoramagazine.org/fedora-community-and-the-covid-19-crisis/

https://redd.it/fjron2
@r_linux

Government ist trying to ban encryption again
https://act.eff.org/action/protect-our-speech-and-security-online-reject-the-graham-blumenthal-bill

https://redd.it/fjs43h
@r_linux

It’s Almost Too Easy to Install Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi!

The release of an official Raspberry Pi image writer tool means it now easier than ever to install Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi device.

Ubuntu recently revamped its Raspberry Pi downloads page (and very pretty it looks too)

https://redd.it/fjsbzd
@r_linux

NewFormattedFile Utility

Hi guys! Just finished the first release of my program `nff`. It creates a new file with contents specified in a config file for that file extension. No more endlessly typing out shebangs and `if __name__ == "__main__":` statements! Documentation on the GitHub repo.

Link: <https://github.com/oliversandli/NewFormattedFile>

Thoughts/improvements/things-I-did-terribly-wrong welcome!

https://redd.it/fjupgg
@r_linux

How to configure mailx to send mail from

I'm trying to configure a noscript to send mail through [gmx.com](https://gmx.com)

When I run the following settings with a login account of 'uuu' (username matches the email address I'm sending from) it works. When it doesn't match, then I get 550 Sender address is not allowed, because it's trying to use from:username@gmx.com. I've looked through settings but can't find the one that lets you update the account name. Lots of things seem like this, but they trigger the same error (example FromLineOverride=YES and then -r '[uuu@gmx.ccom](mailto:uuu@gmx.ccom)'... triggers the same friggin error. I've tried putting the username into the hostname, the mailhub, etc).

So I can get it to work by just setting up a user account with the same username as the email address, but it seems like there should be a way to.. not do this, and I can't find it in the documentation. Is there any way to do this?

echo Login to server! | mailx -s "Message!" -r [uuu@gmx.com](mailto:uuu@gmx.com) [rrr@mail.com](mailto:rrr@mail.com)

[`root=uuu@gmx.com`](mailto:root=seemslegit@gmx.com)

[`mailhub=mail.gmx.com:587`](https://mailhub=mail.gmx.com:587)

[`rewriteDomain=gmx.com`](https://rewriteDomain=gmx.com)

[`hostname=gmx.com`](https://hostname=gmx.com)

`FromLineOverride=NO`

[`AuthUser=uuu@gmx.com`](mailto:AuthUser=seemslegit@gmx.com)

`AuthPass=xxxxx`

`UseSTARTTLS=YES`

https://redd.it/fjuudg
@r_linux