News/16
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Jump to navigationJump to search- Linux Mint 20 Blocks And Removes Snap Citing Backdoor To Canonicals SnapCraft StoreThe popular Linux Mint operating system has decided to purge the snap package manager from its repositories and forbid installation of it. The motivation for this drastic move is that the upstream Ubuntu Linux distribution Linux Mint is based on will stealthily install snapd and use that to install Chromium from the Canonical-controlled SnapCraft instead of installing a regular Chromium package like most users expect.
- Linux 5.8 Brings Per-Core Energy Sensor Support For AMD CPUsThe new
amd_energycan in theory tell you how much energy each core on AMD family 17h and above CPUs consume as well as the total amount of energy consumed by the CPU package. The readings given in Joules and the reported total package figures appear to be fairly accurate. If the per-core energy readings are correct or not is an entirely different question.
- The Flutter SDK Is Ready To Be Used For Native Linux Software DevelopmentFlutter is a cross-platform software development kit from Google which is widely used for mobile app development. Google has, in collaboration with Ubuntu Linux maker Canonical, adopted the Flutter UI framework so it can be used to make native GNU/Linux programs. A Flutter SDK alpha-version snap is available for those who want to do Android-style native Linux software development.
- Mpv drops GNOME supportMost of the developers of the GNOME desktop environment have the strange idea that GNOME is somehow a "platform" that is separate from, and not a part of, the overall GNU/Linux ecosystem. One direct result of this self-isolation has been the regular breakage of non-GNOME software when it is running in GNOME. This has affected free software project like mpv, SuperTuxKart, SDL and many more. One mpv developer who has had enough of GNOME nonsense made mpv print a "no support" message and exit if it was running under GNOME earlier today.
- Suddenly Seeing Random KDE Programs Scale And Become Huge While Others Do Not When Launched Outside Of KDE Plasma? This Variable Can Save The DayRecent KDE framework versions combined with Qt 5.14+ will randomly up-scale some KDE programs while other programs remain the same sane sizes they've always been when KDE programs are used outside of the KDE Plasma desktop. This unfortunate issue affects users of desktop environments like Xfce, IceWM and LXQt on several distributions including OpenSUSE and Fedora. Adding
export QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0to$HOME/.bash_profileor another file read when the desktop session is launched can save the day.
- Xfce4-time-out-plugin 1.1.1 Is ReleasedXfce developer Andre Miranda is proud to announce a new version of the "time-out" panel plugin for the Xfce4 desktop environment. This plugin will lock your screen, forcing you to take a break, every X minutes. The latest release fixes a bug where the lock countdown would start if its configuration was changed.
- Dooble Web Browser 2020.07.07 Is ReleasedThe mysterious developer "textfield" has released a new version the Dooble web browser which is desribed in the bundled README.md as a "weather bug browser". The Dooble browser uses the mature Qt5 webview module to render web pages. It supports tabs and most other features you would expect from a simpler modern web browser. The latest release adds HiDPI and Qt 5.15 support.
- Video Trimmer 0.2.0 Is OutRussian programmer Ivan Molodetskikh has released another fine version of his "Video Trimmer" for GNU/Linux which is, as the name implies, a simple tool for trimming video clips. If you have a four minute video and you would like to quickly save the first or last two minutes of that clip then the latest version of Video Trimmer may be exactly what you need.
- Zettlr Markdown Editor 1.7.1 Is Released With Vim And Emacs Input ModesThe latest version of the Zettlr Markdown editor has a completely new file core, new code block languages, a interactive tutorial for noobs, shiny new icons and, more importantly, an emacs input mode. There is also a new Vim input mode in this release. Zettlr is available for GNU/Linux, macOS and Windows.
- SLOS-GIMPainter Brush Package Can Make GIMP A Better Painting ToolA Chinese comic book artist going by the name SenlinOS has released a brush package for the GNU Image Manipulation Program for those who use GIMP to do more than just image manipulation. SLOS-GIMPainter provides a rich set of brushes as well as easy to use brush presets. It is a great add-on for GIMP users who love to draw.
- Linux Desktop Market Share Could Have Doubled, Or Stagnated, In Q2 2020There is no sure way to tell exactly how many people are running a GNU/Linux variant on their desktop or laptop computer. Some industry players like Valve release fairly reliable data on a regular basis so we can get an fairly accurate idea of what the GNU/Linux gaming market share looks like. We can also get a ball-park idea of what the overall GNU/Linux desktop market share looks like from players like Netmarketshare. Their numbers indicate that the GNU/Linux desktop market share DOUBLED in Q2 2020.
- Firefox 78 Is Released With 14 Security FixesEight "high", four "medium" and two "low" impact security vulnerabilities were fixed with the release of Mozilla Firefox 78. This version is both a regular release and a Extended Support Release (ESR) expected to receive minor bug fixes for a twelve months. There are a few new features in this release, none of which are particularly noteworthy.
- Mstdn.jp Is Back After Hours Of Downtime Due Post Containing Islamic Terrorist Material
mstdn.jp, one of Japan's larger social media sites and the world's largest using entirely free software, is back up after being down for several hours yesterday. It turns out that their hosting provider was "asked" to take the site down because of a problematic post in Arabic calling for Jihad. The Japanese have a very low tolerance for Islamic terrorist material.
- Older Ubuntu Server Version Have Gained Support For AMD Rome ProcessorsThe Linux kernel has had full support for AMD EPYC processors, code-named "ROME", since version 5.4. All the latest versions of modern distributions have the code required to utilize these second-generation high-end server processors. That has so far not been the case with older Long Term Support versions of Ubuntu. Canonical has now back-ported the required code to older kernels and given all their LTS versions support for AMD EPYC CPUs.
- Glib-networking up to 2.64.2 accepts any TLS certificate as valid for any domainYou should make sure your system is using a up-to-date version of glib-networking if you are using GNOME and/or the Balsa e-mail client. The glib-networking library up to and including version 2.64.2 has an implementation flaw that allows a server to present a certificate for any domain and have glib-networking accept it has valid as long as the server neglects to provide a server identity. A server could present a certificate valid for example.tld and have glib-networking accept it as valid for yourbank.tld.
- New Hong Kong Security Law Could Slow SuperTuxKart DevelopmentA new security law imposed on Hong Kong by China could slow development of the free software kart racing game SuperTuxKart down to a grinding halt. One of the two main developers is located in Hong Kong and he, who we choose not to name at this time due to potential repercussions from China, may be forced to re-locate to the United Kingdom. This would significantly impact his ability to improve the free software SuperTuxKart kart racing game.
- Total War: SHOGUN 2 Is Being Given Away For Free On Steam Until May 1stFeral Interactive is giving away licenses to the proprietary turn-based strategy game Total War: SHOGUN 2, released in 2011, in the Steam Store until May 1st. The game has a native GNU/Linux version and very low system requirements, you can play it on a laptop with integrated Intel graphics. The game's graphics are decent and the gameplay is alright, purchasing a license at zero price is worth it if you enjoy playing turn-based strategy games. There's also huge rebates on DLC packs and battle packs which can be had for a few dollars each while the give-away lasts.
- Chromium 81 Is Released With Many Security Fixes And Mostly Working Vulkan Rendering SupportThe latest version of the free software Chromium web browser, which forms the basis for Google's commercial Chrome product, has 32 security fixes. Three of those are "high" impact and eight of them are listed as "medium". More importantly, the Vulkan support added in Chromium 79 no longer leads to a total disaster when it is enabled on GNU/Linux systems. Vulkan rendering actually works as of this release.
- Qt Could Go Proprietary, KDE Relationship And Qt-Based Free Software In JeopardyThe Qt Company, maker of the popular Qt toolkit used by a lot of free software, announced that they would be restricting LTS releases of the Qt toolkit to paying customers in a widely criticized move back in January, 2020. They are currently strongly considering taking that one step further by restricting all Qt releases to paying license holders for the first 12 months. This jeopardizes the future of the popular KDE Plasma desktop environment as well as the LXQt desktop environment and it puts the wisdom of using the Qt toolkit for free software development in question.
- The Secret Chronicles of Dr. M 2.1.0 RC1 Is ReleasedDevelopment of the Super-Mario like 2D jump and run sidescroller platform game The Secret Chronicles of Dr. M. (TSC) is moving forward with the first version 2.1.0 release candidate following three months of rigorous testing since the release of 2.1.0 beta 2 late January 2020. TSC has wonderful graphics, original music, original levels and it is overall a fun free software game worth trying if you have time to waste playing games. TSC is available for Windows and Linux.
- Linux 5.6.2 Is Released With Intel Wifi FixThere were some small bug fixes in Linux 5.6.1 and mostly small bug fixes in Linux 5.6.2 too except for one rather important fix for those who have wireless Intel WIFI chips. Linux 5.6 broke wifi support for everyone using the
iwlwifidriver for wireless Intel cards. 5.6.2 has a small fix which restores wifi functionality for all the affected users.
- GNOME And KDE Are Merging To KNOME - The Next Generation Linux Desktop EnvironmentDo you like the simplicity and lack of features GNOME offers yet you would also like the customization options and feature-richness KDE has? We have good news, KDE and GNOME are merging their desktop environments into KNOME! KDE+GNOME = KNOME, the future desktop environment for free software users.
- Second Mini Album "Dear My Color" From Korean Pop Sensation 보라미유 (Boramiyu) Is Released And It Is WonderfulThe second mini-album from Korean solo artist 보라미유 (Boramiyu) starts off with the very soothing and charming song love song "우리가 틀렸던 건 아닐 거야". The mini-albums second song, 10분 전, is a very happy and cheerful song which shines with wonderful vocal performance. It just gets better from there.
- Wine 5.5 Brings Bux Fixes For Beat Hazard 2, iTunes, How To Survive And MoreThe latest development release of the Wine compatibility layer for running Windows software on Linux has better WebServices support, better support for debug information in Portable Executable files and 32 mostly application-specific bug-fixes.
- Linux 5.6 Is ReleasedThe latest kernel displays Vcore, Vsoc, Icore and Isoc power values on AMD chips using the k10temp hardware monitoring driver, there's multipath TCP (MPTCP) support, WireGuard network tunnel support for VPN connections, support for passing a configuration file with kernel options upon boot and much more. Intel WIFI support is broken in this kernel so you should avoid it if you are using a laptop or a notebook with a Intel WIFI chip.
- Pale Moon v28.9.0.2 Is ReleasedThe European developer "Moonchild" has released a "major development" update to the Pale Moon web browser yesterday. New features include "promise-based media playback" and 1.25x playback of HTML media elements. There were some minor problem with that release so two more minor point versions were related today.
- Some Proprietary AMD GPU Source Code Has LeakedSomeone going by the e-mail nickname "palesaferns" leaked a number of Hardware Definition Language (HDL) source code files for the AMD Navi graphics cards to a GitHub repository. That repository was swiftly yet too-lately removed by GitHub-owner Microsoft at the behest of AMD. The released stolen source code tree has code for Navi10 and empty folders for other graphics chips like the "Arden" GPU in the coming XBox Series X which indicates that the leaker is also in possession of those source files as well. AMD has issued a statement saying that they "believe the stolen graphics IP is not core to the competitiveness or security of our graphics products".
- Thunar 1.8.14 Is ReleasedThe newly released Thunar 1.8.13 had several bug-fixes, improvements and a unfortunate regression which broke drag and drop when multiple files are selected. Thunar 1.8.14 is a "emergency release" which reverts the one commit that broke drag and drop. The rest of the improvements in Thunar 1.8.13 remain intact.
- Thunar 1.8.13 Is Released With Unfortunate Bug That Makes It Useless As A File ManagerThe latest release of the Thunar file manager for the Xfce desktop environment has several bug fixes, including crash fixes, and a new bug which breaks drag and drop of multiple files. Select 4 or 10 files in Thunar 1.8.13 and drag them and only one of the files is dragged along thanks to a very unfortunate commit for opening multiple files in a single application. It is very unfortunate that the commit which added that feature made Thunar utterly useless as a file manager and it is quite embarrassing that the Xfce team released Thunar with such a usability-breaking bug.
- Xfce4-screensaver 0.1.9 Is Released With A Critical Security FixXfce4-screensaver has, so far, had a really embarrassing adn very unfortunate bug which allowed anyone to unlock a machine locked with Xfce4-screensaver by connecting a docking station or a few extra monitors. Xfce developer Sean Davis has addressed this major security flaw as well as several other less embarrassing bugs in the latest Xfce4-screensaver release.
