DistroWatch Weekly, Issue 744

This week in DistroWatch Weekly: Review: MX Linux 17News: openSUSE experiments with kernel-powered splash screen, Ubuntu pulls downloads over BIOS bug, PureOS is endorsed by the FSF, FreeBSD considers easier Wayland access, UBports to run Android apps, Manjaro to continue 32-bit supportTips and tricks: Managing multimedia filesReleased in....

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8 Not-so-Crazy Linux Predictions for 2018

After a knock-out 2017, 2018 promises to be a big year for Linux. In this post we share 8 Linux predictions for the coming year, ranging from the possible to the improbable.

This post, 8 Not-so-Crazy Linux Predictions for 2018, was written by Joey Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

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Debian-Based siduction Linux Brings Easy SSH Handling to Its First 2018 Release

The Debian-based siduction Linux operating system has been updated today to version 2018.1.0, the first ISO images for the new year, which bring quite a lot of new features and improvements.

Synced with the Debian Sid (Unstable) software repositories from December 29, 2017, the siduction 2018.1.0 "Patience" release rings in the new year with up-to-date components like the recently released Linux 4.14.10 kernel, systemd 236 init system, and X.Org Server 1.19.5 display server, and a bunch of enhancements.

It comes with no less than eight flavors, including KDE, GNOME, Xfce, LXDE, LXQt, Cinnamon, MATE, Xorg, and noX. siduction 2018.1.0 ships with the latest KDE Plasma 5.10.5, GNOME 3.26, Xfce 4.12.4, LXQt 0.12.0, Cinnamon 3.4.6, and MATE 1.18.3 desktop environments for their respective editions.

"Sadly, right now, GNOME, MATE, and LXDE are largely unmaintained. If no one steps up to keep them in a releasable state, we might have to drop these flavors with our next re... (read more)

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Linus Torvalds Wishes Everyone a Happy New Year, Releases Linux Kernel 4.15 RC6

Linus Torvalds doesn't take a break, not even on New Year's Eve, and he just announced the release of the sixth RC (Release Candidate) milestone of the upcoming Linux 4.15 kernel series.

It looks like the development of Linux kernel 4.15 wasn't interrupted by the winter holidays, nor the new year's celebrations, so public testers can now get their hands on the sixth Release Candidate, which brings lots of x86 updates, updated USB, RDMA, networking, and sound drivers, some perf tooling, as well as core networking and IRQ fixes.

"One last RC at the end of the year - and a Happy New Year to everybody," says Linus Torvalds in the mailing list announcement. "This would have been a very quiet week, if it wasn't for the final x86 PTI stuff - and that shows in the diffstat too. About half the rc6 work is x86 updates. The timing for this isn't wonderful, but it all looks nice and clean."

Linu... (read more)

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GnuCash 3.0 Open-Source Accounting Software to Bring a CSV Price Importer, More

The road to the massive GnuCash 3.0 open-source accounting software continues with another milestone, version 2.7.3, which brings many new features and even more improvements.

The GnuCash development team just released today GnuCash 2.7.3, another unstable snapshot towards GnuCash 3.0, a major release of the money management application that will introduce use a new versioning scheme for point releases consisting of only two digits instead of three like it was until now.

"Notice that we've decided that beginning with the upcoming major release we will use two-digit release numbers and that the next stable release will be 3.0. Maintenance releases will be 3.1, 3.2, etc. The next unstable release will be 3.900 and will lead to 4.0," reads today's announcement.

Here's what's new in GnuCash 2.7.3

Prominent new features of the GnuCash 2.7.3 include a CSV Price importer, greatly enhan... (read more)

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Distribution Release: siduction 18.1.0

Ferdinand Thommes has announced the availability of a new snapshot of siduction, a rolling release distribution based on Debian's Unstable branch. "Today we are proud to release siduction 2018.1.0 with the flavours KDE, LXQt, GNOME, Cinnamon, MATE, Xfce, LXDE, Xorg and noX. The released images are a snapshot....

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Biggest Linux News Stories of 2017

Brief: Taking a look back to some of the biggest news stories of the year 2017.

2017 has been an eventful year in the history of Linux. Lots of ups and downs throughout the year. There were a number of stories that impacted Linux users. I am just making a quick list of the most important events in the year 2017.

1. Canonical shutdowns Ubuntu Phone project, ditches Unity in favor of GNOME

This was perhaps the biggest shocker of 2017. Canonical just dropped the bomb that it was going to discontinue Ubuntu Phone project. Development of Unity 8 was also stopped. This was followed by a significant layoff at the company. Canonical subsequently replaced Unity with GNOME in the Ubuntu 17.10 release.

While there are volunteering efforts to keep Unity alive, it won’t be wrong to say that Unity and Ubuntu Phone are dead projects now.

2. Munich ditches Linux and goes back to Windows

For close to ten years city of Munich lead the Linux adoption with its custom distribution LiMux. It came to an end in 2017 when the Munich city council decided to ditch Linux and go back to Microsoft Windows despite the fact that it will cost millions of euro of taxpayers’ money.

3. Desktop Linux market share reaches all-time high

It seems unlikely but according to the website Net Market Share desktop Linux usage reached 3.37%, its highest ever. Of course, the stats are not accurate but it is still a consolation to us Linux enthusiasts to see the graph moving north.

4. New Linux powered laptops

2017 also saw the debut of elementary OS powered laptops Litebook. With a price tag of just $250, Litebook generated quite some buzz on the internet.

Litebook was not the only Linux laptop launch in 2017. Spain based Slimbook unveiled the first KDE branded laptop. UK based StationX also debuted in 2017 with their high-end Linux machines. They are also the first to launch a Manjaro Linux powered laptop.

Veteran System76 was not far behind as it launched Galago Pro.

5. Dwindling support for 32-bit systems

2017 clearly put it in the open. 32-bit systems are gone. Throughout the year we saw Linux distributions announcing the discontinuation of 32-bit support. The long list consists of Ubuntu, Arch, Manjaro and NVIDIA as the big players. I can presume that the year 2018 won’t bring good news for 32-bit systems.

6. Head of Linux Foundation lands into controversy for using macOS

Trivial things are not trivial if you are the head of Linux Foundation. Jim Zemlin, head of Linux Foundation declared 2017 the year of Linux desktop. Problem? Apparently, someone saw him using macOS on a flight.

This outraged many Linux users who saw it as a betrayal to the desktop Linux community.

7. Controversy encore! Mozilla tried to push Mr. Robot extension without user consent

Though not directly related to Linux, the story actually made a big splash in the Linux world. Privacy champion Mozilla was caught with its pants down in the Looking Glass controversy.

As a tie-up with US TV series Mr. Robot, Mozilla created an extension called Looking Glass. Some people at Mozilla thought it was a good idea to enable this extension on all Firefox installation. And what’s funny is that this was done to raise privacy awareness.

Quite obviously it turned into an outrage. Mozilla apologized for this misadventure.

8. Ubuntu 17.10 breaks BIOS of some laptops, pulls out ISO downloads

The latest release of Ubuntu ran into trouble after it was noticed that it was breaking the BIOS of several Lenovo and some Acer and Toshiba models. The issue was serious and it forced Canonical to pull out the ISO download links from the website of Ubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu and other official Ubuntu flavors.

9. Linux Journal shuts down

23 years old Linux magazine Linux Journal decided to call it quit. Financial issue was the driving reason behind this unfortunate decision.

10. Librem 5 successfully crowdfunds Linux based smartphone

The idea of a Linux based smartphone always excites me. And I am glad that privacy-focused company Purism successfully crowdfunded its Linux based smartphone Librem 5. It won’t be releasing in 2018 though.

Eelo was another open source mobile OS announced in 2017.

11. Linux runs on 100% of top 500 fastest supercomputers

Let’s end the list of biggest news stories of 2017 on a happy note. Linux now runs on all of the top 500 fastest supercomputers in the world. Let’s hope that the year 2018 will bring good news for desktop Linux as well.

Happy new year Linux users and FOSS lovers :)

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Distribution Release: Manjaro Linux 17.1.0

Philip Müller has announced a new update to the rolling Manjaro Linux distribution. The new installation media, labeled Manjaro Linux 17.1.0, ships with several package upgrades. "This is our second try with Xorg-Server v1.19.6. This time we also updated our Mesa-Stack and changed the handling of DRI/DRM. Some....

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Linux 4.14.10 and 4.9.73 LTS Kernels Are Available to Download, Update Now

Renowned Linux kernel maintainer and developer Greg Kroah-Hartman announced a couple of days the release and immediate availability of the Linux 4.14.10 and 4.9.73 LTS kernels.

While Linux kernel 4.9.73 LTS is a small patch that changes a total of 22 files with 191 insertions and 56 deletions, the Linux 4.14.10 kernel is a major one, changing no less than 116 files, with 4023 insertions and 3424 deletions. According to the appended shortlog, most of the changes included in Linux kernel 4.14.10 are related to merging of the x86 low-level prep for kernel page table isolation.

"I'm announcing the release of the 4.14.10 [and 4.9.73] kernel. All users of the 4.14 [and 4.9] kernel series must upgrade," says Greg Kroah-Hartman. "The updated 4.14.y [and 4.9.y] git tree can be found at: git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.14.y and git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux-stable.git linux-4.9.y."

Users are ... (read more)

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FFmpeg 3.4 "Cantor" Open-Source Multimedia Framework Gets First Point Release

Two and a half months after its launch, the FFmpeg 3.4 "Cantor" open-source and cross-platform multimedia framework received its first point release earlier this month.

FFmpeg 3.4.1 is the first maintenance update to the major FFmpeg 3.4 "Cantor" series of one of the most used open-source multimedia backend, and it is currently making its way into the stable software repositories of various popular GNU/Linux distributions.

As expected, this point release includes updated library versions. These are libavutil 55. 78.100, libavcodec 57.107.100, libavformat 57. 83.100, libavdevice 57. 10.100, libavfilter 6.107.100, libavresample 3.7.0, libswscale 4.8.100, libswresample 2.9.100, and libpostproc 54.7.100

Highlights of FFmpeg 3.4 "Cantor"

Since we didn't cover the release of FFmpeg 3.4 "Cantor" series, we'd take this opportunity to tell you a bit of its highlights. Released in mid-October 2017, FFmpeg 3.4 brings numerous new video filters, audio filter... (read more)

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Backup and Clone Your Disk Drives with BakAndImgCD, Now Based on 4MLinux 24.0

To celebrate the new year, 4MLinux developer Zbigniew Konojacki‏ informed us today on the availability of a new release of his BakAndImgCD disk backup and cloning live Linux system.

Based on 4MLinux 24.0, which is currently in development, BakAndImgCD 24.0 uses the latest 4MLinux Backup Scripts 24.0 to help anyone who needs a portable live system that eases the backup and cloning of disk drivers.

On top of that, BakAndImgCD 24.0 comes bundled with up-to-date GNU/Linux technologies and open source software projects aimed at any kind of data backup or disk cloning operation on supported filesystems.

A versatile data backup and disk cloning live Linux system

An official fork of the 4MLinux distro, BakAndImgCD is a versatile data backup and disk cloning live Linux system that supports a broad range o... (read more)

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ALT Linux 8.2 Distro Released with Workstation, Server, and Education Editions

Michael Shigorin of BaseALT Ltd announced the release and general availability for download of the ALT Linux 8.2 computer operating system for desktops, servers, and educational organizations.

Available for both 32-bit and 64-bit installations, ALT Linux 8.2 is here with critical security fixes for various of its core components, including the Linux kernel, OpenSSL, Samba, and other, along with various bug fixes and improvements.

"BaseALT Ltd announces the release of ALT Server, ALT Workstation and ALT Education distributions version 8.2, aimed for corporate servers and desktops, educational and personal use," reads the release announcement.

Here's what's new in ALT Linux 8.2

ALT Linux 8.2 now uses iucode-tool to load updated processor microcode on all editions. For desktops, ALT Workstation 8.2 comes bundled with the FreeIPA client and the Chromium web brows... (read more)

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Distribution Release: ALT Linux 8.2

Michael Shigorin has announced the release of ALT Linux 8.2, a set of independently-developed, RPM-based distributions designed for desktops, servers and educational institutions: "BaseALT Ltd announces the release of ALT Server, ALT Workstation and ALT Education distributions version 8.2, aimed at corporate servers and desktops, educational and personal....

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EzeeLinux Show 18 0 | Linux Grows In 2017

The very first “EzeeLinux Show!” We look ahead to 2018, revisit dual boot concerns and talk about MS and their evil ways. 🙂 Please be sure to give EzeeLinux a ‘Like’ on Facebook! Thanks!

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Continue reading EzeeLinux Show 18 0 | Linux Grows In 2017 at Freedom Penguin.

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EzeeLinux Show 18 0 | Linux Grows In 2017

The very first “EzeeLinux Show!” We look ahead to 2018, revisit dual boot concerns and talk about MS and their evil ways. 🙂 Please be sure to give EzeeLinux a ‘Like’ on Facebook! Thanks!

http://ift.tt/1TOgRSz Check out http://ift.tt/1ONlVRM.

Continue reading EzeeLinux Show 18 0 | Linux Grows In 2017 at Freedom Penguin.

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10 Best Free Antivirus Software For 2018 To Protect Your Computer

f you’re using Windows operating system and you have a rough idea of what’s happening in the cybersecurity world, you must be knowing that your favorite computer isn’t safe from malware and other threats. Same applies to Android and macOS platforms. To protect you from threats, cybersecurity firms develop and release antivirus software. In this […]

The post 10 Best Free Antivirus Software For 2018 To Protect Your Computer appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Wine 3.0 Gets Fourth Release Candidate, Improves Call of Duty 4 and Zoo Tycoon 2

It doesn't look like Wine 3.0 will be released by the end of the year, as the development team decided to drop another RC (Release Candidate) milestone instead to fix more bugs.

Wine 3.0 RC4 is hopefully the last before the final release, and it includes a total of 12 bug fixes for various Windows apps and games, among which we can mention the Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania demo (installer failed to work correctly), Call of Duty 4 (didn't start), and The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System (error message).

The BBC iPlayer Desktop client received a fix for an issue with the .desktop file, U-Center 8.11 GNSS evaluation software for automotive, mobile terminal and infrastructure applications no longer crashes when importing or exporting configuration files, and WinPolis 3.x game's "Buy CDs" editbox now automatically selects all.

Among other changes included in the fourth Release Candidate of Wine 3.0, we can men... (read more)

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LinuxConsole 2018 Gaming Operating System Released with TORCS and SuperTuxKart

LinuxConsole developer Yann Le Doaré just informed us on Twitter that he released today LinuxConsole 2018, an independently developed operating system for children and kids.

Designed as a modern, gaming, and educational GNU/Linux distribution that can be easily installed on 32-bit or 64-bit computers and comes pre-installed with ready-to-use software and games, LinuxConsole 2018 brings up-to-date components like Linux kernel 4.9.66 LTS (64-bit) and Linux kernel 4.1.48 LTS (32-bit).

MATE 1.18 is used as default desktop environment in LinuxConsole 2018, which makes it possible to manage Bluetooth devices and simplifies the configuration of wireless networks. It also comes with the latest Mozilla Firefox 57 Quantum web browser and supports Arabic locale.

"With LinuxConsole 2018 you can easily install a modern Linux distribution with many software that ready to use. LinuxConsole is a distribution that exists for 15 years now," writes Yann Le Doaré in today's read more)

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Gentoo-Based Calculate Linux 17.12 New Year's Eve Release Adds SoftRaid Support

Calculate Linux developer Alexander Tratsevskiy was pleased to announce today the general availability of the Calculate Linux 17.12 computer operating system based on Gentoo Linux.

Coming six months after version 17.6, Calculate Linux 17.12 introduces some new features and improvements like SoftRaid support, better automatic partitioning of drives, support for third-party overlays, better application task scheduling with the MuQSS kernel patch, as well as less memory load with the UKSM kernel patch.

Under the hood, Calculate Linux 17.12 is powered by the latest Linux 4.14 LTS (Long Term Support) kernel and X.Org Server 1.19.5 display server, uses a PAE binary kernel for 32-bit computes, updates GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) to version 6.4, optimizes all server kernel settings, and it launches Calculate Utilities server through D-Bus instead of running in the background, for better performance.

The Pidgin instant messaging client was replace with Gajim in the Xfce,... (read more)

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250+ Mobiles Games Are Using Your Smartphone Mic To Track What You’re Watching

he year 2017 witnessed the rise in the popularity of digital assistant-powered smart speakers. While some people found it useful, others called it creepy and labeled it as a privacy nightmare. But, what about your beloved smartphone? Can it be used to track you and your family’s activities? As a shocking report by NYTimes, more […]

The post 250+ Mobiles Games Are Using Your Smartphone Mic To Track What You’re Watching appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Distribution Release: Calculate Linux 17.12

Alexander Tratsevskiy has announced the release of Calculate Linux 17.12, a set of desktop and server distributions based on Gentoo Linux. This release is comes in four desktop flavours, with KDE Plasma 5.10.5, Cinnamon 3.4.6, MATE 1.18.0 and Xfce 4.12.3: "On the New Year's eve, meet Calculate Linux....

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Top 10 Free Movie Download Websites That Are Completely Legal

Short Bytes: Are looking for some websites where you can download movies for free, legally? To answer this query, we are here with a list of top 10 free movie download websites where you can get some quality entertainment without paying any money. This list includes the likes of The Internet Archive, Public Domain Torrents, […]

The post Top 10 Free Movie Download Websites That Are Completely Legal appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Chrome Extension With 100,000 Users Caught Cryptojacking Using Your CPU Power

he trend of mining cryptocurrency hasn’t gone unnoticed by the notorious minds. This technique to use CPU power to earn digital coins has been repeatedly used by malware creators as well as the website owners who chose to keep their users in the dark. In the latest development, a popular Chrome extension has been spotted […]

The post Chrome Extension With 100,000 Users Caught Cryptojacking Using Your CPU Power appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Spotify is now available as a Snap app on Ubuntu

Spotify is now available as a Snap app on Ubuntu and other Snap-supporting Linux distributions. The package means it’s now more convenient for fans of Spotify to install the official client on Ubuntu desktops as no external downloads or repo commands are required. Of course, the hugely popular music streaming service is no stranger to […]

This post, Spotify is now available as a Snap app on Ubuntu, was written by Joey Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

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And the best distro of 2017 is ...

Stack them and rack them. So, which one is the best? Behold, the article reviewing the finest Linux distribution of 2017, with focus on aesthetics, ease of use, stability, and long-term support. Take a look.

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How To Access Blocked Websites? 12 Easy Ways To Bypass Them

Short Bytes: Restrictions and bans over websites are always annoying, and governments are now censoring content more than ever. Check out the 10 easy ways to bypass the censorship to access blocked websites. These easy-to-use and effective methods include the use of VPN, extensions, DNS hack, proxy websites, and others. iven the current stature of […]

The post How To Access Blocked Websites? 12 Easy Ways To Bypass Them appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Development Release: Linux Lite 3.8 Beta

Jerry Bezencon has announced the availability of the beta release of Linux Lite 3.8, a beginner-friendly distribution featuring the LXDE desktop. It is based on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. "Linux Lite 3.8 beta is now available for testing. There have been a number of changes since the 3.6 release.....

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Orange Pi One Plus Single Board Computer With Android Is Here, Linux Images Are Coming

henever we discuss single board computer and Raspberry Pi-alternatives, Orange Pi definitely earns a mention. This cheap, tiny computer looks just like Raspberry Pi and packs some useful features. Its makers have recently released the latest iteration in the form of Orange Pi One Plus, which is available on AliExpress for $19.99 + shipping. The […]

The post Orange Pi One Plus Single Board Computer With Android Is Here, Linux Images Are Coming appeared first on Fossbytes.

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OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) Routing Protocol & Its Stages

SPF (Open Shortest Path First) is a link state routing Protocol, a type of the Internal Gateway Protocol (IGP), which was designed to scale and support more extensive networks. To find the shortest path between the nodes, OSPF uses Dijkstra’s algorithm. OSPF also uses the link cost as the metric, based on the link bandwidth […]

The post OSPF (Open Shortest Path First) Routing Protocol & Its Stages appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Apple Apologizes For Slowing Down iPhones, Offers Solutions And Cuts Battery Prices

arlier this month, Apple became a target of media websites and consumer groups after it was reported that the company might be deliberately slowing down older iPhones with an iOS update. Later, Apple confirmed the same. In the latest development, the company has posted more information online and explained the situation in detail. In a […]

The post Apple Apologizes For Slowing Down iPhones, Offers Solutions And Cuts Battery Prices appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Happy 48th Birthday Linus Torvalds! Here are 20 Facts About Him

Brief: Some known, some lesser known. Here are 25 facts about the Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux kernel.

Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student developed a Unix-like operating system while he was doing his masters in the year 1991. It has become a revolution since then and today it powers most of the web, embedded devices and all of the top 500 supercomputers.

I have already written about less known facts about Linux. This article is not about Linux. It’s about its creator, Linus Torvalds.

20 Interesting facts about Linus Torvalds

Probably you already know some of the facts about Linus but chances that you’ll know some new facts about him.

1. Linus Benedict Torvalds was born on 28th December 1969 in Helsinki. He comes from a family of journalists. He was named after Linus Pauling, a noble prize winner in Chemistry.

2. While you may found several people with the name Linus, you won’t find many people with the name Torvalds. Because the ‘correct’ spelling is actually Torvald (without s). His grandfather changed his name from Torvald to Torvalds, adding an ‘s’ at the end. And thus the Torvalds dynasty began (if I can call it that).

Since this is an unusual surname, there are hardly 30 Torvalds in the world and they are all relatives, claims Linus Torvalds.

3. At the age of 10, Linus started writing programs in BASIC on his maternal grandfather’s Commodore Vic 20. This is when he discovered his love for computers and programming.

4. Though he preferred to spend time on computers rather than in athletic activities, he had to attend the compulsory military training. He held the rank of Second Lieutenant.

5. In early 1991, unhappy with the MS-DOS and MINIX, Torvalds wanted to buy a UNIX system. Luckily for us, he didn’t have enough money. So he decided to make his own clone of UNIX, from scratch.

6. In Sep’91, Linus announced Linux (Linus’s MINIX) and encouraged his colleagues to use the source code for wider distribution.

7. Linus thought that the name Linux was too egotistical. He wanted to change it to Freax(Free, freak and MINIX) but his friend Lemmarke has already created a directory called Linux on his FTP server. And thus the name Linux continued.

8. The project “Linux: A Portable Operating System” was the title of his thesis in M.Sc.

9. In 1993, when he was teaching at the University of Helsinki, he gave the task of composing email as homework to the students. Yeah! it composing emails were a big deal back then.

A female student named Trove Minni did this task by sending him an email asking him out on a date. he accepted and three years later first of their three daughters was born.

Shall I say he started the internet dating trend? Hmm… Nah! let’s leave it there ;)

10. He has numerous awards to his honor, including an asteroid named 9793 Torvalds.

11. Linus moved to the US in 1997 and settled there with his wife Trove and three daughters. He became a US citizen in 2010. At present, he works full time on the Linux kernel under the Linux Foundation.

12. In 2000, Apple’s founder Steve Jobs invited him to work on Apple’s macOS. Linus refused the lucrative and continued to work on Linux kernel.

13. Most people know Linus Torvalds for creating Linux kernel. But he has also created Git, a version control system that is extensively used in software development worldwide.

Till 2005, a proprietary service BitKeeper was used for the kernel development. When Bitkeeper shutdown its free service, Linus Torvalds created Git on his own because none of the other version control systems met his needs.

14. Though Linus works full time on Linux Kernel, he hardly writes any code for it anymore. In fact, most of the code in the Linux Kernel is by the contributors from around the world. He ensures that things go fine in each release with the help of kernel maintainers.

15. Linus Torvalds has a strong dislike for C++. He has been vocal about it.

16. A few years back, Linus told that he found Debian difficult to install. He is known to be using Fedora on his main workstation.

17. Linus Torvalds loves scuba diving. He even created Subsurface, a divelog software for scuba divers. You’ll be surprised that sometimes he even answers to general questions on its forum.

18. Torvalds is known for using mild expletives in Linux Kernel mailing list. It has been criticized by some in the industry.

19. Linus doesn’t feel comfortable in public speaking. He doesn’t attend many events. And when he does, he prefers to sit down and get interviewed by the host. This is his favorite way of doing a talk.

20. Google Plus is the only social media platform he uses. You can find him reviewing gadgets there in his free time.

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Linux Lite 3.8 Is the Last One to Be Released for Series 3, Coming February 1

Linux Lite creator Jerry Bezencon announced today the availability of the first Beta release of the upcoming Linux Lite 3.8 GNU/Linux distribution.

Scheduled for launch on February 1, 2018, as the last release in the Linux Lite 3 series, Linux Lite 3.8 promises to introduce various improvements and tweaks, along with updated components and some new features. The most important of them all being the implementation of the TLP power management tool for laptops in Lite Tweaks.

"TLP brings you the benefits of advanced power management for Linux without the need to understand every technical detail," reads project's website. "TLP comes with a default configuration already optimized for battery life, so you may just install and forget it. Nevertheless, TLP is highly customizable to fulfi... (read more)

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How Popular Was Ubuntu in 2017? Let’s Ask Google Trends…

Ubuntu was more popular than Britney Spears, Linux Mint, and the Amazon Echo in 2017 according to the number of searches made using Google.

This post, How Popular Was Ubuntu in 2017? Let’s Ask Google Trends…, was written by Joey Sneddon and first appeared on OMG! Ubuntu!.

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NetBSD 7.1 Operating System Receives First Security Update, Here's What's New

NetBSD Project's Soren Jacobsen announced today the general availability of the first point release of the NetBSD 7.1 operating system series.

Coming nine and a half months after the launch of the NetBSD 7.1 series, NetBSD 7.1.1 is mainly a security and bugfix release that addresses important issues like a buffer overflow via cmap for four graphics drivers, x86 vulnerabilities, and a Vnode reference leak in the openat system call.

"The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 7.1.1, the first security/bugfix update of the NetBSD 7.1 release branch. It represents a selected subset of fixes deemed important for security or stability reasons. If you are running an earlier release of NetBSD, we strongly suggest updating to 7.1.1," reads today's announcement.

Here's what's new in NetBSD 7.1.1

Included in NetBSD 7.1.1, we can find Heimdal 7.1, BIND 9.10.5-P2, tzdata 2017c, root.c... (read more)

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Puppy Linux Derivative Fatdog64 Gets New Release with Linux 4.14, UEFI Installer

The Fatdog team announced a new stable release of their Puppy Linux derivative Fatdog64, version 720, which carries the latest Linux 4.14 LTS kernel series and numerous improvements.

Prominent new features of the Fatdog64 720 release include a UEFI Installer that lets users install the GNU/Linux distribution on modern UEFI machines using USB flash drives, the implementation of LICK Installer 1.2 by default in the ISO image, and libinput support for X.Org Server by default, replacing Synaptics and evdev.

Fatdog64 720 also ships with a home-made touchpad configuration client designed as a drop-in replacement for flSynclient, a new keyboard layout that supports multiple layouts, support for dual-nano initrd in the ISO image, as well as new and updated parameters including waitdev and mergeinitrd{n}.

"Fatdog64 720 Final is the next iteration of Fatdog64. It is still built on the same base as Fatdog64 710 so it has a high-degree of compatibility with 710 packages; howe... (read more)

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10 Best Torrent Sites Of 2018 To Download Your Favorite Torrents

e are about to enter the next calendar year in less than a week’s time. The chances are high that the loyal members of the BitTorrent community have already started to look for the best torrent sites for 2018. The rise in legal actions against many torrent websites can be thought of as one significant reason […]

The post 10 Best Torrent Sites Of 2018 To Download Your Favorite Torrents appeared first on Fossbytes.

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BSD Release: NetBSD 7.1.1

Soren Jacobsen has announced the release of NetBSD 7.1.1, a security and bug-fix update from the project that develops a lightweight operating system that runs on a wide range of hardware platforms: "The NetBSD Project is pleased to announce NetBSD 7.1.1, the first security/critical update of the NetBSD....

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Developer Gets ‘Transparent Face’ Using iPhone X Face ID

he uses of Face ID is a lot more than fooling your mom’s iPhone X or making a poop emoji talk and laugh. Determined people are always on a quest to find new ways they can take advantage of the face tracking tech of 2017’s Apple flagship. Kazuya Noshiro (@noshipu), a Japan-based game developer managed to get […]

The post Developer Gets ‘Transparent Face’ Using iPhone X Face ID appeared first on Fossbytes.

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10 Best Free Android Camera Apps For 2018

e are living in a generation where instead of carrying a separate camera everywhere, we have access to a remarkable camera right in our pockets. Nowadays, many people rely on their smartphones as a primary device to capture videos and photos. All smartphones come with a pre-installed camera application. However, the default camera doesn’t always […]

The post 10 Best Free Android Camera Apps For 2018 appeared first on Fossbytes.

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These are Google Android 8.1's five best features

Besides numerous security fixes, the latest version of Android includes multiple features that developers will be using to improve your smartphone experience.

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ArmA 3 Apex - Tanoa - Welcome to the jungle

Jungle Love, I want to know ya, know ya. Hence, this review of ArmA 3 APEX expansion pack, covering the new island archipelago Tanoa, new weapons and systems, coop multiplyaer, gameplay, combat, realism, other features, and more. Have fun.

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Eelo: Gaël Duval’s Open Source, Privacy Respecting Android Phone Clone

The man behind the first user-friendly Linux distribution now seeks to produce a free-as-you-want-it-to-be Android phone that respects user rights.

Are you ready for a new operating system for your Android phone? An operating system that’s totally free and that’s main purpose isn’t to get you to consume? How about an operating system that, although based on Android, brings to the table some of the best aspects of Linux — like (eventually) it’s own repository of apps? Well, get ready, Gaël Duval is working to bring eelo to the table.

If Duval’s name seems familiar to you, it should. He’s the guy who in 1998 founded Mandrake, the distro that brought ease-of-use to the Linux table long before there was a Ubuntu. Mandrake made installing Linux easy in an age when you had to be something akin to a rocket scientist to get Linux up and running. It also brought graphical point and click configuration tools into play. New-to-Linux users no longer had to be command line whizzes to configure their systems.

Although MandrakeSoft, the company behind Mandrake (later called Mandriva because of both a trademark dispute revolving around the “Mandrake the Magician” newspaper comic strip and a merging of the distro with Connectiva), folded in 2011, the genes of the distro are still with us. PCLinuxOS, which once spent time near the top of the DistroWatch chart, started life as a Mandrake clone. The community-based distro Mageia unabashedly carries on the Mandrake mantle, complete with updated versions of the Drake configuration tools.

But as the Monkees once said, “that was then, this is now.”

In a move that most folks saw, at the very least, as wrong, Duval was forced out at the company he founded in 2006. The same year he co-founded the open source virtual desktop company, Ulteo, where he served as president and CTO until moving on in 2014. Since 2015 he’s been CEO at consulting firm Cleus, which he also founded, and since 2016 he’s been CTO at NFactory, something of a venture capital incubator, that he cofounded.

Right now, he’s working to get eelo off the ground.

In the first of a series of blog posts he began on November 29 announcing the eelo project, Duval explains that he’s starting with an existing open source version of the Android phone operating system, LineageOS. Although some might prefer a mobile operating system based on GNU/Linux, there are plenty of good reasons to chose Android as a starting point. For one thing, it will be a lot less work. Android is already optimized to work well on ARM-based mobile devices and to accommodate small screen sizes.

“[T]he core of AOSP/LineageOS is usable, and performing well, but it’s not good enough for my needs: the design is not very attractive and there are tons of micro-details that can be showstoppers for a regular user. Also, unless you are a geek, LineageOS is not realistically usable if you don’t want Google inside.”

The project is already off to a good running start. Duval and his team, which includes Hathibelagal Ashraff as lead developer and Rhandros Dembicky as “artist-in-chief,” have already designed a replacement for the LineageOS launcher, which the project is calling BlissLauncher “just because it’s a great launcher.” They’ve also developed a new notification system and unlock screen.

Eelo BlissLauncher.

eelo notification system.

Next up is to get rid of Google, which is no easy task since Google in imprinted all over Android’s DNA.

Why get rid of Google? Do you have to ask?

“[W]hat we want is not only something good-looking, attractive and easy to use. We want more privacy! And Google services are not compatible with my idea of privacy.

“Therefore, we don’t want Google Services. We don’t want Google play store. And we probably don’t want most of Google apps such as Calendar, Email etc.

“Also, we probably don’t want Facebook either and some other so-called ‘free’ services. This will be user’s choice to install them or not. I know that we cannot change the world in one iteration, this will be step by step.

“Each of this point will need to be addressed in eelo. We will need an independent application repository, an independent and secure email provider, an independent online drive, online office services…”

Why a repository? Again, do you have to ask? Have you ever looked around on Google Play and tried to understand what app was open source, what was freeware, what was trying to steal your data and what was wanting to track you while servings ads. And while there are alternatives to Google’s little store, all of them come with either limitations or problems that could be deal breakers.

“I think we’d need an “eelo store” that would deliver both:

• official free applications like APKPure
• open source applications like in F-Droid

All that into a single, appealing and fast application, where users could check easily if an app is open source or not, where users could evaluate the application level of privacy, and where users could be able to report some scam issues. We definitely need to add this to the eelo roadmap.”

There is also the need to remove apps that are overly dependent on Google’s infrastructure, especially “Google Services,” a non-open source service that must be installed to use the Play Store. With the “eelo store,” that would be no great loss, except that Google Services provides some services that are necessary for some popular apps. For example, the GPS apps people use to find their way around town would seem to rely on the infrastructure.

Luckily, there is MicroG, an open source alternative to Google Services what will most likely be integrated into eelo. As will Magisk, another open source project to handle issues from apps that look to Google’s SafetyNet Attestation API to determine if an app is installable on a device. Among other things, the API doesn’t particularly like rooted devices and might prevent some apps from being installed on them.

Nextcloud client on eelo.

Doing away with Google applications is also doable. For search there are DuckDuckGo, Qwant and the not-yet-ready-for-prime-time alternative, CommonSearch. For calendaring, emailing, word processing and the like, Duval and his team have been looking at OpenStreetMaps, Collabora, OnlyOffice, ownCloud and NextCloud. So far, DuckDuckGo, OpenStreetMaps, OnlyOffice and Nextcloud are considered the defaults.

Obviously, a project of this magnitude isn’t going to be cheap to develop and the good news is that eelo isn’t going to die on the vine. On December 21, Duval notified FOSS Force that eelo had started a Kickstarter campaign, seeking to raise $29,674 (or €25,000) in an all-or-nothing campaign, meaning that it the funding goal wasn’t reached, eelo takes nothing.

At press time, with 24 days left in the campaign, eelo has passed its goal, with $33,765 pledged so far.

More money would be better, however. Details on how the money will be spent, including how it will be spent in excess of the minimum goal, are available on the project’s Kickstarter page. If you have a few extra bucks in your pocket and you’re tired of turning your phone off at night or speaking in whispered tones when its on because you don’t trust it, you might want to consider making a small donation.

But if you’re good with living in an Orwellian world, by all means, keep your money and continue to use your off-the-shelf Android phone.

The post Eelo: Gaël Duval’s Open Source, Privacy Respecting Android Phone Clone appeared first on FOSS Force.

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Apple’s Lisa Operating System To Be Released For Free As Open Source In 2018

ore than three decades ago, Apple unveiled the Apple Lisa. It turned out to be one of the biggest flops of Apple, selling only 10,000 units; Apple spent a mammoth $150 million on R&D. Lisa, one of the first commercial computers with a GUI, also set the stage for a conflict between CEO John Sculley and […]

The post Apple’s Lisa Operating System To Be Released For Free As Open Source In 2018 appeared first on Fossbytes.

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This ‘True Wireless Charger’ Can Fuel Your Smartphone From A 3-Feet Distance

hen device makers flaunt wireless charging support there is some charging pad or station involved on which the device needs to be placed. In fact, it appears less convenient than cables as we can’t move the device while it’s virtually plugged-in. Thankfully, things are about to change. The FCC has approved a power-at-a-distance charging tech which we can […]

The post This ‘True Wireless Charger’ Can Fuel Your Smartphone From A 3-Feet Distance appeared first on Fossbytes.

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Linux Mint 19 and Linux Mint Debian Edition 3 Announced, Coming 2018

Linux Mint project leader Clement Lefebvre revealed in the project's last monthly newsletter for 2017 that the development team will soon begin work on the next major Linux Mint and LMDE releases.

That's right, you've guessed it! With all the editions of the Linux Mint 18.3 "Sylvia" release out the door, it's time for the Linux Mint team to concentrate their efforts on the Linux Mint 19 and Linux Mint Debian Edition (LMDE) 3. While LMDE 3 will be just a refreshed installation image of the rolling distro, bringing all the latest Debian security updates, Linux Mint 19 will be based on the upcoming Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system.

"Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone! The year is almost over, our latest release is out, all the work we’ve done has been delivered and this holiday season is an o... (read more)

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4MLinux Operating System Gets Christmas Release with Some New Amazing Features

4MLinux developer Zbigniew Konojacki‏ informs Softpedia today about the general availability of a special Christmas release of his independently developed GNU/Linux distribution, 4MLinux 23.1.1.

4MLinux 23.1.1 might look like a point release to most users, but, in fact, it's a major revamp of the 4MLinux 23 stable series of the operating system that brings full 3D support for Intel, AMD Radeon, and Nvidia graphics cards, as well as popular apps like VLC Media Player, Google Chrome, Audacious, and GNOME Office.

Despite adding all these new apps and features, 4MLinux remains friendly with older computers, as the integrated Legacy Installer lets users install 4MLinux on machines with no more than 128 MB of RAM and 2GB of free disk space. 4MLinux 23.1.1 is developer's way of saying Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all 4MLinux users.

"Exceptionally, so called point release has been marked as a major one due to some new amazing features," says Zbigniew Konojacki‏... (read more)

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