KFENCE - Detecting memory bugs in production kernels
https://thomasw.dev/post/kfence/

https://redd.it/mcgn0y
@r_linux

Do you really want Linux phones
https://blog.brixit.nl/do-you-really-want-linux-phones/

https://redd.it/mclj6i
@r_linux

Anyone order a laptop from "Laptopwithlinux.com" ?

https://laptopwithlinux.com/

The laptops look very similar to the system76 line of products. I have heard that they are just rebadged clevo laptops and when I started googling "clevo laptops" I stumbled on these badboys. It seems like I have a cheaper alternative to system76 without the bios flashing and support.

https://redd.it/mcpj2e
@r_linux

Windows <-> Liniux: 10 months in

This is not about a switch over, but rather using a Linux machine alongside several Windows machines, and trying to get a smooth and continuous experience and workflows across all systems at work and at home. This is based on my needs and preferences, so pretty subjective.

Just some high level points... hope it will help someone else. The more I use my Mint machine, the more I like it. While I wouldn't make it my main and only machine for a number of reasons, I far prefer it over Mac OS.

Systems used: Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Home, Linux Mint (just upgraded to 20.1 but was mainly on 19.x), heavily used alongside iPads / iPhones. So, in no special order:

|Feature|Windows|Linux|Comments|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|Airprint from iOS devices|Not possible without installing a 3rd party app which may pose privacy and security risks|Linux CUPS print server is the same (or compatible with) AirPrint. Just share a printer and it will be discovered by any iOS device on the local network (and by Windows, of course).|A big plus with Linux|
|Encrypted file storage that works with iOS|Cryptomator|Cryptomator|Cryptomator offers the same experience on all platforms.|
|Cloud storage|Onedrive|Onedrive, synced via Insync (the only paid Linux app I have)|There are also free solutions for Linux, but Insync is often on sale for $15 and IMHO is worth the convenience.|
|Office suite|MS Office|MS Office web or Libre Office|LibreOffice is more than adequate for personal stuff. For work related documents that must follow a common format and get shared with others, need to use a Windows machine or Office on web, due to formatting getting sometimes lost in translation. This is a minor inconvenience.|
|Notetaker / Data organizer|Onenote|Onenote Web|Unfortunately there's no Linux Onenote client. (see *1 below)|
|Text & program automation noscripting|AutoHotKey|AutoKey, Custom keyboard shortcuts (via keyboard preferences)|Use examples: type "qqdt" to insert current date and time; using custom shortcuts to have the same key combination provide the same functionality between Linux and Windows even though the underlying apps are completely different|
|Extended clipboard (with history, support for images)|Built in Windows. Using Win+V to bring up clipboard history|CopyQ|Using custom keyboard shortcut to have the Win+V run CopyQ|
|Browser|Brave|Brave||
|Quick photo viewer / editor|Windows Photos|Pix||
|RAW photo editor|CaptureOne, Rawtherapee|Rawtherapee, Darktable|No loss of major functionality.|
|Photo editor|Paint Shop Pro, Gimp|Gimp|Gimp is sufficient for most tasks. No support for adjustment layers yet.|
|Email / Calendar / Task client|Outlook|Thunderbird|Thunderbird ecosystem had improved tremendously. Tbsync plugin syncs calendars, tasks and contacts, and works with Outlook and enterprise Exchange surprisingly well, with a very straightforward setup.|
|Media players|VLM, Foobar2000|VLM, Rhytmbox|Still looking for a perfect music player.|
|Password manager|Bitwarden|Bitwarden||
|Global / Desktop search|Everything, Windows Indexing, Onedrive / Onenote search|Recoll, Docfetcher|Windows Indexing search used to be great, now it's a mess. Recoll is pretty good. Docfetcher is also very good. All in all, there's a solution for both platforms. Using WIN+CTRL+E to run search on both systems.|
|||||

*1 Yes I am aware that there's Joplin, Evernote, etc. I prefer Onenote for a number of reasons, not really on topic for this discussion. The bottom line is, there's no Onenote client for Linux.

https://redd.it/mcm8mz
@r_linux

Is three a way to add dim (\E2m) functionality to my terminal (URxvt-unicode/xterm/etc)?

I've been playing around with ncurses and I've found that none of my terminals support the dim functionality. From what I can tell after a bit of googling, the output of infocmp should have an entry that reads: `dim=\E[2m,` . While my goto terminal is URxvt, I was surprised to find that none of the terminal that I have installed support it.

Is it within the realm of possibility to get URxvt to support the escape sequence or do I need to find another terminal. I personally am rather fond of URxvt and would rather not abandon it for something else as it seems to play nicely with so many other things.

[https://redd.it/mckvl0
@r_linux

AMDGPU Kernel Module Versions

If you are having trouble getting amdgpu or amdgpu-pro to work with any kernel after 5.4.0-56, check AMD's website for the newest driver 20.50.


Released March 22nd, 2021 (two days ago?!?!) AMD finally supports the most recent kernels used in RHEL, Ubuntu, and SUSE (sorry Arch guys).

I am not a developer or tester, but with slight edits to the "osrelease()" function in the install noscript, you can shift it to your distro.

For example, the Ubuntu 20.04.1 drivers support Mint and Debian, and adding "pop" to the case statement let me run on PopOS! 20.10 just fine w/ kernel 5.8.0-7642.

https://redd.it/mccnqk
@r_linux

RMS Open Letter - An open letter signed by Open Source (and more) Developers and other Persons for the removal of the entire Board of the Free Software Foundation, the GNU Project, and all leadership positions elsewhere
https://rms-open-letter.github.io/

https://redd.it/mbq1sz
@r_linux

Asus Linux status update Mar. 2021
https://asus-linux.org/blog/updates-2021-03-22/

https://redd.it/mcu4qt
@r_linux

Can I open Linux log files under Windows?

I know this may sound like heresy, but I assure you, I have reasons :P

When I copy a messages logfile to a Windows machine and try to open it in a text editor, it displays only garbage. I thought notepad++ might be able to read the format, but alas, no luck. Do you know any better means?

https://redd.it/mcuhzr
@r_linux

I made a new OS for my Kobo eReader

Here's a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ6z\_-jO5UY

The Kobo runs Alpine Linux natively with a boosted-up kernel (although v2.6.35.3, and very difficult to upgrade) including SquashFS support, FUSE, kexec, etc. The main GUI uses Qt 5.15.2 for graphics rendering, which is very nice to work with.

The software is automatically started at boot with a daisy-chain mount sequence (update files are squashfs images, so I have to mount them to use the software) and it interacts with various parts of the OS.

It includes a Diagnostics mode, which can be booted up by sliding the power key, which the initrd detects in the first 3 seconds of boot. You can do factory reset/restore and update the software in it.

More details and download are available here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=337972

I hope you enjoyed it! :D

https://redd.it/mcv5fi
@r_linux

A Linux with different os for every user

I've been using Unraid for some time to run windows or linux depending on the operating system I need, plus several dockers in the background, and it has always behaved perfectly. However, a few days ago, I found this video.

I Almost Lost My Virtual Machines...

Where SomeOrdinaryGamers explains quite simply how he runs virtual machines on Manjaro, watching the video I noticed that he basically manually reproduces what Unraid does under the hood. In summary, what he does to switch the video card from his manjaro to the virtual machine and vice versa is to prepare pre and post execution noscripts that take care of disconnecting and reconnecting the video card, allowing a smooth transition between one system and another. At this point it occurred to me that theoretically it would be possible to create a noscript that runs the virtual machine when the user login and disconnects the user when the virtual machine is turned off, if you join these noscripts to a stripped down linux it would be possible create a distribution that allows you to have a different and dedicated system for each user.

What do you think? would it be interesting as an idea or is it something that interests me only?

https://redd.it/mcvx1b
@r_linux

Introducing ovpn-admin — a web interface to manage OpenVPN users
https://blog.flant.com/introducing-ovpn-admin-web-interface-for-openvpn/

https://redd.it/mcxzgd
@r_linux

How Microsoft implemented and then removed a crucial Teams feature on Linux
https://www.thomasvanderberg.nl/blog/microsoft-removed-crucial-teams-feature-linux/

https://redd.it/mcv99r
@r_linux

KDE e.V. is looking to hire a documentation writer
https://ev.kde.org/2021/03/24/job-documentation

https://redd.it/mcuwc2
@r_linux

Meet PanVk, an Open Source Vulkan driver for Arm Mali Midgard and Bifrost GPUs
https://www.collabora.com/news-and-blog/news-and-events/panvk-an-open-source-vulkan-driver-for-arm-mali-midgard-and-bifrost-gpus.html

https://redd.it/md0oql
@r_linux

Lenovo refuses a 42€ Windows licence refund, gets sentenced 20000€ for damages
https://fsfe.org/news/2021/news-20210302-01.fr.html

https://redd.it/md1ypv
@r_linux

PINEPHONE – Beta Edition Linux SmartPhone - PINE STORE
https://pine64.com/product/pinephone-beta-edition-linux-smartphone/?v=0446c16e2e66

https://redd.it/md19gq
@r_linux

GNOME Shell 40 Port Guide - Part 2 (Overview)

https://redd.it/md2r72
@r_linux

OpenSSL Security Advisory [25 March 2021]
https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20210325.txt

https://redd.it/mczr89
@r_linux

GNOME 40 Release Video

The GNOME release video for your viewing pleasure. It takes a different take than previous one - given that this is a major UX release it seems appropriate. Would love your feedback of course. Big thanks to FreeHive for producing this video. As usual, the video is made completely with Free Software.

https://youtu.be/vK-SwsWnEmo

https://redd.it/md7sks
@r_linux

Would you buy an AMD/Intel board with coreboot?

Now, we have seen time and time again companies that produce coreboot friendly laptops, these laptops generally come from the likes of System76 (porting over coreboot to their AMD line).

It's great that we are seeing a push from the likes of protectli that produce coreboot friendly router boards which are used a lot use for pfsense.

Then you have you guys over at deciso doing some work with coreboot, on their netboard a10 boards.

If someone came out other than the likes of Asus..etc, would you be willing to buy a coreboot friendly board and if so would you play a little bit more considering it's a niche product but you also knew that it was intended to be used with Linux/BSD.

What features would you like to see for instance, board size.... ITX/ATX?

I'm not going to be building like this but I think having market research would allow companies to review the this thread.

https://redd.it/md7rs9
@r_linux