Ikey Doherty, the developer who once created the independent Linux distribution Solus has announced his new project: Serpent OS.
Serpent OS is a Linux distribution that DOES NOT want to be categorized as “lightweight, user-friendly, privacy-focused Linux desktop distribution”.
Instead, Serpent OS has “different goals from the mainstream offering”. How? Read on.
Serpent OS: The making of a “truly modern” Linux distribution
Serpent takes distro-first, compatibility-later approach. This lets them take some really bold decisions.
Ikey says that it this project will not tolerate for negative actors holding Linux back. For example, NVIDIA’s lack of support for accelerated Wayland support on their GPUs will not be tolerated and NVIDIA proprietary drivers will be blacklisted from the distribution.
Here’s a proposed plan for the Serpent Linux project (taken from their website):
No more usrbin split
100% clang-built throughout (including kernel)
musl as libc, relying on compiler optimisations instead of inline asm
libc++ instead of libstdc++
LLVM’s binutils variants (lld, as, etc.)
Mixed source/binary distribution
Moving away from x86_64-generic baseline to newer CPUs, including Intel and AMD specific optimisations
Capability based subscriptions in package manager (Hardware/ user choice / etc)
UEFI only. No more legacy boot.
Completely open source, down to the bootstrap / rebuild scripts
Seriously optimised for serious workloads.
Third party applications reliant on containers only. No compat-hacks
Wayland-only. X11 compatibility via containers will be investigated
Fully stateless with management tools and upstreaming of patches
Ikey boldly claims that Serpent Linux is not Serpent GNU/Linux because it is not going to be dependent on a GNU toolchain or runtime.
The development for Serpent OS project starts by the end of July. There is no definite timeline of the final stable release.
Too high claims? But Ikey has done it in the past
You may doubt if Serpent OS will see the light of the day and if it would be able to keep all the promises it made.
But Ikey Doherty has done it in the past. If I remember correctly, he first created SolusOS based on Debian. He discontinued the Debian-based SolusOS in 2013 before it even reached the beta stage.
He then went out to create evolve OS from scratch instead of using another distribution as base. Due to some naming copyright issues, the project name was changed to Solus (yes, the same old name). Ikey quit the Solus projectin 2018 and other devs now handle the project.
Solus is an independent Linux distribution that gave us the beautiful Budgie desktop environment.
Ikey has done it in the past (with the help of other developers, of course). He should be able to pull this one off as well.
Yay or Nay?
What do you think of this Serpent Linux? Do you think it is time for developers to take a bold stand and develop the operating system with the future in the mind rather than holding on to the past? Do share your views.
Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) is a Debian-based live DVD/USB with the goal of providing complete Internet anonymity for the user. The project's latest release, Tails 4.8, focuses on security updates. "This release fixes many security vulnerabilities. You should upgrade as soon as possible. New features: We....
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A new version of Arc Menu, a popular extension for GNOME Shell, has been released. It includes a new, neater menu layout and alphabetical grouping options.
Mozilla Firefox 78 is now available to download for Windows, macOS and Linux. We cover the notable new features and changes, and show you how to upgrade.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has developed a potential vaccine to combat the Covid-19 disease. The vaccine is named Covaxin and represents India’s effort in curbing down the spread of Coronavirus that has ravaged countries across the globe.
Covaxin contains a weakened version of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (Coronavirus) which will be injected into the patient’s body to elicit an immune response. India’s COVID-19 vaccine has been developed by the combined efforts of Bharat Biotech, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and National Institute of Virology (NIV).
Permission to conduct human trials was given by the Controller General of India after a report on the effectiveness of the vaccine was submitted. The company now has the authority to conduct Phase I and II clinical trials of Covaxin, which will begin next month, i.e., July 2020.
India’s COVID-19 Vaccine Couldn’t Arrive Any Sooner!
The news of a potential domestic Coronavirus vaccine comes at a time when India is struggling to control the virus in its major cities. On June 29, 2020, India recorded a massive spike of 18,000 new Coronavirus infections. A total of 5.6 lakh people in India have been affected so far and the country’s death toll stands at 16,800 people.
Amongst the worst affected include India’s financial capital Mumbai, Delhi, and the state of Tamil Nadu. A total of 1.60 lakh people in Maharashtra have contracted Coronavirus. As a result, the respective state government is planning to increase the lockdown until 31 July, 2020.
With a record-breaking spike in infections every day, India needs a firm grip, in the form of a potential cure or drug, over the Coronavirus menace to recover.
India’s Plan To Recovery
The readily available steroid drug Dexamethasone has recently shown the potential to reduce COVID-19 deaths by one-third and one-fifth in critically ill patients. Dexamethasone is a prescription drug that is readily available across all the drug stores in the country.
Another drug, Remedesivir, can improve the recovery time of COVID-19 patients leading to a faster recovery. These drugs combined with the upcoming coronavirus vaccine can help to slow down the spread of this infectious disease.
Recovering files after you accidentally delete them in Windows 10 has always been a tiring and inconvenient process. So far, we have relied on various third-party data recovery software to reclaim our lost data. But now Microsoft has released a new Windows 10 app called Windows File Recovery.
As the name suggests, the app helps us quickly recover deleted files via the command line on Windows 10. Microsoft says that it also works with corrupted drives or in case you wiped your disk clean.
Windows File Recovery can recover photos, videos, and other stuff. It supports common file formats, including JPEG, PNG, PDF, MPEG, MP3, MP4, Office Files, etc.
It can work with internal drives, external HDDs, SSDs, SD cards, and other USB devices. However, in default mode, it only supports NTFS-formatted storage media. The CLI (command line) app also works with other file systems such as FAT, exFAT, and ReFS when you enable something called Signature Mode.
How to get the Windows File Recovery app on my PC?
You can grab the Windows File Recovery app for free by heading over to the Microsoft Store. You’ll require Windows 10 2004 (19041) or a higher version to run the app. After installing the app, you can simply fire up the Command Prompt and get started.
To recover your deleted files, you can use the following syntax in the Windows File Recovery app:
Here, the source drive is the location where you want to recover files, and the destination drive is the location where you want to dump the data. You can take the help of switches to perform various things, such as jumping between modes, dropping data into a particular folder, or recovering files of a specific format(s).
At first, all of these commands would seem overwhelming to some users. But overall, it’s a great addition from Microsoft who has introduced a native file recovery tool for Windows 10. But at the same time, if it turns out to be effective, it might kick out existing recovery apps.
Torrenting is an easy means to share large files using peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technology as you’re not dependent on a single source or website. To download files using torrents, you need a torrent search engine or website and a torrent client.
There are many torrent sites that you can use to download the file of your choice, but choosing the best out of them is a task.
Frequent torrent users know that Kickass Torrents is one of the most popular websites to download torrents. That’s the reason many Kickass proxy sites poped-up on the web after the famous torrent portal disappeared.
Also, Kickass torrents (KAT cr) is one of the best torrents sites after Pirates Bay. The popular BitTorrent site was founded in 2008 and tasted its fair share of success until it was blocked in 2016.
However, like other torrent sites, the Kickass Kat website has been pulled offline in many countries because of the copyrighted content available on it. After the original website was banned, many Kickass torrent mirror sites appeared to entice users. Even the staffers of the original Kickass torrent site tried to revive the website with a new kickass site named Katcr.co/full but the site failed to gain much traction.
Despite the fact that the original torrent site has gone underground, Kickass Proxy List could help you access it all times. The below mentioned Kat proxy sites act as an intermediate between the Kat mirror websites and your device thus granting you access to Kickass torrent websites even if it is restricted in your region.
Disclaimer: The torrent sites mentioned ahead are just for an informational purpose. We don’t support using them to download copyright-protected content.
KickAss Proxy Sites List 2020 (100% Working)
Here’s a list of KickAss torrents proxy sites. We have tested all these Kat proxy sites, and all the enlisted sites were working at the time of writing.
https://katcr.to/
https://ift.tt/29EpoEd
https://ift.tt/2lapOfu
https://proxyindex.net/
https://thekat.info/
https://kat.li/
https://kat.lat/
https://ift.tt/2Sm8SCP
https://kat.am/
https://kickass1.to/
https://kat.rip/
Why Use KickAss Proxy Sites?
There is no means to get KickAss unblocked, but there are proxy sites available that host torrent files.
If you want to download torrents, you can use KickAss proxy sites that offer a large number of torrent files and magnet links for downloading your favorite content.
How Do Kickass Proxy Sites Work?
Proxy servers act as a bridge between the website you want to access and your browser. For example, when you use a Kickass Torrent Proxy site, your browser connects to the Kat proxy and then the proxy connects to the website. This helps in accessing content that is restricted in your area due to restrictions. The Kickass Proxy list 2020 has all the working links that you can use to download files from the popular torrent website.
Kickass Torrents Alternatives 2020
It’s no doubt that KickAss Torrent made a popular name in the BitTorrent ecosystem. Although, most of it was because of the massive amount of pirated content it hosted. Anyway, the fans of the defunct site can now only rely on these Kickass proxy portals. Unless they might want to jump the ship.
If the above mentioned KickAss torrents proxy sites do not work, there are many alternatives available. We have prepared a detailed article on Kickass Alternatives in 2020 for those who are facing difficulty in accessing the popular torrent search engine.
In our article, you’ll find many popular KickAss search engine alternatives like 1337x, Torrentz2, LimeTorrents, The Pirate Bay and Zooqle for downloading a variety of torrents.
PUBG Mobile 0.19.0 update is on its way and the game developers are aiming big in terms of new content this time. The update will release on July 7 along with the new exclusive Livik map. And now, the recent update in the beta version PUBG Mobile teased the ‘Unranked Classic’ event in PUBG Mobile.
Moreover, the ‘Ancient Secret‘ event, which was previously available only for Miramar, is now available in Erangel too.
In the Unranked Classic event, players will be able to play classic battle royale matches without affecting their ranks. Unfortunately, the privilege to select a map is taken away from players in this event. It further means that the Unranked Classic event will assign a random map to PUBG Mobile players, just like the ‘Quick Match’ feature in PUBG PC.
PUBG Mobile ‘Unranked Classic’ Event
Nevertheless, it’s amazing that players will be able to play classic matches with their noob friends without worrying about their ranks.
As we are talking about new content, PUBG Mobile Beta included the ‘Ancient Secret’ event in Erangel.
Ancient secret event in Erangel
This event was already available for Miramar and introduced features like Sky Temples, Snakes, and Mummy Boss in PUBG Mobile Beta. So, these same features are now available in Erangel too.
However, it’s hard to say that the ‘Ancient Secret’ event will be available in both maps once the update is live in the global version of PUBG Mobile.
TikTok has established its name as one of the most popular social media apps used by the millennials. A lot of people use the app to create and watch videos as the app has amassed a large user base of around 800 million active users as of now.
However, in the past few days, TikTok suffered a backlash in India due to the YouTube vs TikTok controversy, and a lot of Indian users rated the app 1 star on Google Play Store. This resulted in the fall down of the app’s rating from 4.5 to 1.3 on Google Play Store.
Finally, a ban has been imposed on almost 59 Chinese apps and TikTok was one of them. If you are also looking for a TikTok alternative, you can find a lot of them on Google Play Store. Here we have picked the five best TikTok alternatives for Android and iOS that you can try:
Dubsmash
Chingari
Funimate
Mitron
Dubshoot
5 Best TikTok Alternatives 2020 For Android And iOS
1. Dubsmash
It can be dubbed as one of the oldest musical video-making apps that dominated the category for a long time. Dubsmash has a simple user interface that looks more like Instagram.
Your feed will be empty until you follow people on Dubsmash, and in the explore section, you will see different videos and creators you can follow. It can serve as one of the best TikTok alternatives owing to its large audience and user interface.
While creating music videos on Dubsmash, you see several options to chose from, including trending, popular music, recommended sounds, and more. You just have to tap on that particular option and then click on the create button.
The video recording interface of Dubsmash is very sorted as you just have to hold the recording button to start. You can toggle flash, set a timer, and even use different filters in your videos at the time of recording.
After creating the video, you can add a poll or any text to it if you want to. You can also allow comments and duet with your Dubsmash video.
Chingari is a video sharing platform originally developed in India in 2018. The app garnered more than 1 million users since the day it became the center of attraction among Indian users due to the anti-china sentiment.
Chingari can be said to be one of the best Indian TikTok alternatives as of now available in the market. It has a simple yet attractive user interface and supports various regional languages including Punjabi, Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati, Bangla, and More. You can use the app in your native language which is a big advantage over other similar apps.
As per the stats shared by the app on Google Play, More than 10,000 creators create and share their content on the platform regularly. Now, as we all know that TikTok has been banned, speculations are that Chingari will soon witness a considerable hike in the user base.
Out of all the TikTok alternatives available in the list, Funimate has the most interactive user interface discovered at the time of testing. Creating an account on the app was quite an easy task.
Once you create your account, you land on the feeds page where you can see content from different creators on the platform. You get a lot of options like featured, tutorial, following, and funstarz.
You can edit the video as you are doing it in a professional video editor. You can trim the video, split it, and add effects like a glitch, digital, dizzy, and a lot more.
However, a major drawback with the app is that a lot of effects and features of the Funimate are locked and can only be unlocked after buying the pro version of the app. The locked features can ruin your mood while creating a video.
Another Indian TikTok alternative that easily garnered 5 million downloads in a month. However, the journey of Mitron was not as smooth as Chingari. It was found that the app was not developed in India and it is a rebranded version of a Pakistani app TicTic.
The app was also removed from the Google Play Store as it violated Google’s spam and minimum functionality policy. However, after a few changes, the app was again back on Google Play Store
As of now, Mitron has already crossed more than 10 million downloads on Google Play Store. The app will soon gain more followers and a large user base. It can be said that Mitron is the top contender in the list of Best TikTok alternatives.
With more than 50 million downloads a 4.7-star rating on the Google Play Store, Roposo will make you fall in love with it. The app has a lot of effects and filters similar to TikTok and you can create more professional videos using Roposo.
The app is also available in different languages and more than 3 lac videos are posted on the app every day. You can directly share videos on your WhatsApp with Roposo as you did in the Helo app.
Apart from that, Roposo has few channels including Beats, Haha TV, Fimistaan, and a lot more. Users can visit any of the channels to get the sort of content they want.
Also when you join the app, you’ll see a poster boasting the fact that you are using an Indian app. The app also has a chat feature that allows you to interact with followers and people who you follow.
Both the video creating and uploading apps have a similar interface. TikTok was launched much before Likee that is why it has a larger userbase and is more established.
On the other hand, Likee is giving a tough competition to TikTok due to its unique way of letting people make money by watching videos, creating videos, earning for likes.
Is Helo a Chinese app?
Helo app is the product of the ByteDance that is the same company that’s behind TikTok. This clearly means that Helo is a Chinese app. As of now, Helo is one of the largest social media platforms in India with as many as 40,000,000 user bases.
Is TikTok a spy app?
TikTok, one of the most popular social media platforms nowadays, has encountered a lot of privacy issues.
The privacy concerns related to the app make it a controversial and risky app but it cannot be said that it is a spy app.
Is there any Indian app like TikTok?
As of now, the Mitron app has emerged as the Indian TikTok alternative. However, the app has a lot of bugs due to which it cannot be said that this app will be a proper Indian TikTok alternative and moreover it lacks a privacy policy.
Amazon Prime Video’s new feature will let you connect with your friends while following all social distancing norms. The platform has rolled out a new watch party feature that allows users to watch movies together online.
The Amazon Video Watch Party feature will only be available to Prime members. The host of the watch party will invite other users and will have full control over the viewing experience. The host can even line-up movies and shows for binge-watching.
The Verge reports that a single session of the Amazon video watch party can hold up to 100 participants. However, it is also necessary that all Prime users should be based in the US. The video watch party feature includes more than a thousand titles to choose from which users can enjoy with their gang.
During Amazon’s video Watch Party session, members can use built-in chat to share text and emojis. From a privacy perspective, the video parties can be joined only by the people who have the invite link shared by the host.
The new feature by Amazon Prime will provide the platform with an advantage over other OTT platforms. No other platform has a video watch party feature. However, users can install chrome extensions like Netflix Party to watch shows with friends on Netflix.
As of now, Amazon Video Watch Party Feature has only been launched in the United States for Desktop users. Amazon plans to roll it out globally after monitoring the audience’s reaction and the demand for the feature. Meanwhile, the company hasn’t commented on whether the feature will land on Amazon Prime Video’s mobile app or not.
Linux Mint is easily one of the best Linux distributions out there and especially considering the features of Linux Mint 20, I’m sure you will agree with that.
Of course, if you’ve been using Linux Mint for a while, you probably know what’s best for you. But, for new users, there are a few things that you need to do after installing Linux Mint 20 to make your experience better than ever.
Recommended things to do after installing Linux Mint 20
In this article, I’m going to list some of them for to help you improve your Linux Mint 20 experience.
1. Perform a System Update
The first thing you should check right after installation is — system updates using the update manager as shown in the image above.
Why? Because you need to build the local cache of available software. It is also a good idea to update all the software updates.
If you prefer to use the terminal, simply type the following command to perform a system update:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
2. Use Timeshift to Create System Snapshots
It’s always useful have system snapshots if you want to quickly restore your system state after an accidental change or maybe after a bad update.
Hence, it’s super important to configure and create system snapshots using Timeshift if you want the ability to have a backup of your system state from time to time.
You can follow our detailed guide on using Timeshift, if you didn’t know already.
3. Install Useful Software
Even though you have a bunch of useful pre-installed applications on Linux Mint 20, you probably need to install some essential apps that do not come baked in.
You can simply utilize the software manager or the synaptic package manager to find and install software that you need.
For starters, you can follow our list of essential Linux apps if you want to explore a variety of tools.
Here’s a list of my favorite software that I’d want you to try:
You get the option to customize the look in the welcome screen itself. In either case, you just need to head on to “Themes” and start customizing.
To do that, you can search for it or find it inside the System Settings as shown in the screenshot above.
Depending on what desktop environment you are on, you can also take a look at some of the best icon themes available.
5. Enable Redshift to protect your eyes
You can search for “Redshift” on Linux Mint and launch it to start protecting your eyes at night. As you can see in the screenshot above, it will automatically adjust the color temperature of the screen depending on the time.
You may want to enable the autostart option so that it launches automatically when you restart the computer. It may not be the same as the night light feature on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS but it’s good enough if you don’t need custom schedules or the ability to the tweak the color temperature.
6. Enable snap (if needed)
Even though Ubuntu is pushing to use Snap more than ever, the Linux Mint team is against it. Hence, it forbids APT to use snapd.
So, you won’t have the support for snap out-of-the-box. However, sooner or later, you’ll realize that some software is packaged only in Snap format. In such cases, you’ll have to enable snap support on Mint.
By default, Linux Mint comes with the support for Flatpak. So, no matter whether you hate using snap or simply prefer to use Flatpak, it’s good to have it baked in.
9. Using Warpinator to send/receive files across the network
Warpinator is a new addition to Linux Mint 20 to give you the ability to share files across multiple computers connected to a network. Here’s how it looks:
You can just search for it in the menu and get started!
10. Using the driver manager
Driver Manager
The driver manager is an important place to look for if you’re using Wi-Fi devices that needs a driver, NVIDIA graphics, or AMD graphics, and drivers for other devices if applicable.
You just need look for the driver manager and launch it. It should detect any proprietary drivers in use or you can also utilize a DVD to install the driver using the driver manager.
11. Set up a Firewall
For the most part, you might have already secured your home connection. But, if you want to have some specific firewall settings on Linux Mint, you can do that by searching for “Firewall” in the menu.
As you can observe the screenshot above, you get the ability to have different profiles for home, business, and public. You just need to add the rules and define what is allowed and what’s not allowed to access the Internet.
If you’re an experienced user, you probably know this already. But, new users often forget to manage their startup applications and eventually, the system boot time gets affected.
You just need to search for “Startup Applications” from the menu and you can launch it find something like this:
You can simply toggle the ones that you want to disable, add a delay timer, or remove it completely from the list of startup applications.
13. Install Essential Apps For Gaming
Of course, if you’re into gaming, you might want to read our article for Gaming on Linux to explore all the options.
But, for starters, you can try installing GameHub, Steam, and Lutris to play some games.
Wrapping Up
That’s it folks! For the most part, you should be good to go if you follow the points above after installing Linux Mint 20 to make the best out of it.
I’m sure there are more things you can do. I’d like to know what you prefer to do right after installing Linux Mint 20. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
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Google released Android 11 Beta 1 two weeks ago, and up until now, several devices have become part of the Google Beta Program. The beta program enables non-Pixel users to test the features of the Android 11 before the public release.
Out of several Chinese OEMs, Xiaomi also jumped the bandwagon and issued the Android 11 beta update to a handful of its devices including Mi 10, Mi 10 Pro, and Poco F2 Pro. However, the beta was stock Android and not MIUI, which is the Android skin running on nearly all Xiaomi devices. So even if Mi users sideload the Android 11 update, it will eventually be replaced with MIUI 12 based on Android 11.
But Xiaomi has now begun Android 11 based MIUI 12 beta testing, and closed betas are now available for Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro users. For those who don’t know, MIUI 12 Closed Beta updates are early builds and originally intended for developers. They target the Chinese variants of Xiaomi devices, therefore, lack Google Play services and Google Apps. On top of that, there are only two language options — Chinese and English.
Since it’s an early MIUI 12 Android 11 update, it reportedly lacks several Android 11 features. Moreover, there are several bugs and issues. Here are some known issues:
There are some issues with the status bar.
The camera night function is not available.
Little love students do not support Voice Wake.
Long screen capture is not supported.
It does not support the Xiaomi mutual transfer function.
Store upgrade app failure.
Closed beta members in China can easily install the update through the Mi Updater or official recovery options. However, it is different for Mi 10 global beta users and the general public as they will need to flash the update via third party recovery. In other words, not only do they need to have their Xiaomi device’s bootloader unlocked, but they should also know the dangers of flashing a ROM.
We advise users to proceed with caution and backup their data before flashing the MIUI 12 Android 11 Closed Beta update.
Yesterday the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology (MeitY) of India banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok. The decision came due to the ongoing dispute between India and China at the border. However, many people are wondering why the government decided to spare PUBG Mobile despite the fact that it is developed by Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate.
On one side, PUBG Mobile fanatics are relieved that MeitY didn’t ban the free battle royale game. On the other hand, #PUBGBAN is trending in India because many people want the government to ban PUBG Mobile as well.
There’s no denying the fact that PUBG Mobile is insanely popular in India. Millions of Indian teenagers and adults are addicted to the game, especially during this Coronavirus lockdown. Moreover, there are maybe hundreds of Indian YouTubers who make their living by making content on PUBG Mobile. So, it’s understandable why #PUBGBAN trending on Twitter is scary for a lot of people and why memes like these are flooding the internet.
While some players are expressing their fear of #PUBGBAN through hilarious memes, others are still confused about the origin of PUBG Mobile. Apparently, a lot of players think that the PUBG Mobile ban is out of the equation because the game is South Korean and not Chinese.
— Adwitiya Malhotra (@AdwitiyaMalhot2) June 30, 2020
Well, it’s true that a South Korean company developed PUBG PC; however, the mobile version of the game, i.e, PUBG Mobile, is developed by Tencent. So, the game definitely falls into the category of Chinese apps.
As of now, it’s hard to say why PUBG Mobile escaped the ban. It could be that MeitY didn’t find PUBG Mobile harvesting Indian user data like other banned Chinese apps, or the reason could be something different. I guess we’ll have our answers pretty soon.
Xiaomi previously announced the MIUI 12 Global beta testing program for owners of Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7S, and Poco F1.
Now, we finally have the list of Mi fans recruited by Xiaomi that will be part of the MIUI 12 India beta program. It appears the list only includes Mi IDs of owners of Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7S in India.
In other words, the MIUI 12 team will likely come up with a separate list of global users, which will include Mi IDs for Poco F2 Pro owners as well. The MIUI team has released another list of Mi users selected for the Beta program. The new list includes Mi ids of global users who have Redmi Note 8 Pro, Redmi Note 7 Pro, Redmi Note 7, Redmi Note 7S, and Poco F1.
Reportedly, over 25 thousand people participated in the MIUI 12 Pilot program. To quickly find out if you have been selected or not, simply go to the browser’s Find page option and check for your Mi ID.
In a few days, Xiaomi will begin issuing the MIUI 12 Stable Beta updates to the selected users. And it won’t be long before Xiaomi begins rolling out MIUI 12 stable updates to the second batch of devices.
The first batch of devices (Mi 9, Mi 9T Pro, and Redmi K20/K20 Pro) have already begun receiving MIUI 12 Global Stable updates. In other news, Xiaomi has launched Android 11 Beta 1 updates for Xiaomi Mi 10/10 Pro and POCO F2 Pro.
Do you remember your first PC on which you booted Linux from floppy? Well, Floppy disk is almost dead. The majority of people now use USB sticks or DVDs to install Linux distros on their PCs. However, retro enthusiasts love to revive their old hardware and relive the flashback.
Recently, a Redditor who goes by the name ‘FozzTexx’ demonstrated the latest stable Linux Kernel 5.8.0-rc2+ running from his floppy disk. He successfully booted a tiny kernel on a 30-year-old 32-bit Intel 80486 (i486 or 486) CPU.
Now, if you think Linux kernel has dropped support for anything older than i686, it may prove you wrong. You know that freedom, customization, and support for legacy hardware are the characteristics of Linux.
Speaking of booting OS, if you’re 90s kid, you may remember installing Linux with boot floppies or installation CDs offered by Linux distros. Nowadays, the scenario has changed as people download the ISO from official websites and install it by creating a bootable USB or DVD.
In case you’re still wondering about booting Linux from floppy, a retro enthusiasts FozzTexx did it using a single 1.44MB floppy disk on his i486 CPU.
Booting Linux from 1.44MB floppy
He pulled the fresh Kernel 5.8.0-rc2+ from the git repo and shrank it to fit on a floppy using make tinyconfig. Then, he booted it on 486 into a busybox shell using rootfs.cpio.gz from Aboriginal Linux.
The tiny kernel surely misses network support or any other functional support. Though it may seem useless, the Redditor also added options like IDE support. Surprisingly, when he attached a hard drive and booted into the shell, he could see the drive as connected and its full capacity. You can see the result in the picture below.
Hard disk attached to 486 CPU
You can also read the Twitter thread describing how he started loading kernel 5.8 on a 486 from floppy.
This is for all you #floppy lovers out there: Linux 5.8.0-rc2+ pulled fresh from the git repo this morning booting into a busybox shell using the rootfs.cpio.gz from Aboriginal Linux. #RetroComputingpic.twitter.com/zaB9lpggPX
When we talk about a budget car, the most important thing is the fuel-efficiency of that vehicle. Tata Altroz is a premium budget car that has impressed the masses with both its mileage and overall ride quality. The hatchback is currently available in petrol and diesel variants. However, a YouTuber recently uploaded a video showcasing the Tata Altroz XZ+ variant with an after-market CNG kit.
The guy in the video explained that this Tata Altroz has a Lovato Sequential CNG kit with a 12 kg Cylinder. Tata Altroz has a boot space of 345-liters and after fitting a 12 kg cylinder, the boot had enough space to take out the spare tire easily and put it back. Additionally, the CNG nozzle was provided under the hood as in all other CNG cars. Similarly, a switch to change between the fuel options was installed right below the ignition switch. Furthermore, the YouTuber said that the owner has not faced any kind of mechanical problem after installing the CNG kit.
Image: Car Garh
Tata Altroz CNG Kit: Price And Mileage
According to the Youtuber, the total cost of the CNG kit was around Rs 38,000. If we talk about mileage, the YouTuber didn’t discuss it in the video. However, in the comments section, he said that the car has a combined mileage of around 23.75 km/kg to 25 km/kg with a highway to city driving ratio of (60:40).
Image: Car Garh
If we compare it with the petrol variant, then there isn’t a lot of difference after adding a CNG kit. As we have reported in our previous article: Altroz has a city mileage of around 17.10 km/l, highway mileage of about 30 km/l, and combined mileage of approximately 24 km/l.
Conclusion
Image: Car Garh
As you can see, the average combined mileage is pretty much the same. With the CNG kit, the car can prove to be a little bit more fuel-efficient. Furthermore, CNG price is lower than the price of petrol, it will have a lower overall running cost.
CNG can provide a similar level of performance to petrol provided its installation is done correctly. Furthermore, CNG has been successful in most of the taxis around the country that have a daily running of hundreds of kilometers. How the CNG kit will perform with Tata Altroz’s Revotron engine remains to be seen. Most people choose the CNG kit for its better mileage. However, Tata Altroz is already a fuel efficient car and unless your daily running isn’t more than 100 km per day, you shouldn’t bother with the CNG kit.
Anyway, do share your views on this? Why and why not is the “CNG conversion” a good option for Tata Altroz?
Beta apps allow users to test features before they are released to the general public. It is a known fact that users running beta apps on their smartphone might run into issues, but most of the issues are fixed after bug reports.
However, users of the Instagram beta app are facing a weird issue where an error message saying ‘Your Gallery Is Empty’ is displayed when they are trying to send an image or video through DM (Direct Message).
Several Instagram beta users have been reporting the issue on the Instagram subreddit for a week now. There are a total of 60 comments on the thread discussing the weird glitch.
One Redditor posted: “My instagram can’t seem to detect any photos I have that are in my gallery. I don’t even get the drop down menu where you can choose what file to look in. I can’t post or send any media anywhere. I’ve tried all the basics, uninstalling, leaving beta, restarting my phone, switching accounts , etc. My gallery works perfectly fine on snapchat and other apps though. I have a Note 9 (fyi).”
Even I am using the Instagram beta app on my OnePlus 5T and the issue is persistent.
The issue is device-independent as several users with different smartphones have complained about the ‘Your Gallery Is Empty’ message when using the Instagram Beta app. However, I haven’t seen iOS users running into the issue so it’s the Android Instagram Beta app that’s faulty.
How To Fix ‘Your Gallery Is Empty’ Instagram Glitch?
I have, personally, reported the bug to Instagram, but the social media company hasn’t acknowledged the flaw as of now. However, a few Redditors have said that the bug has disappeared for them after they left the beta program.
If you’re facing the ‘Your Gallery Is Empty’ bug on the Instagram beta app, here’s what you do:
Uninstall the Instagram app from your smartphone.
Go to Google Play Store, and search for “Instagram”.
If you are running the beta version of the app, a message saying “You’re a beta tester” will be displayed in the app.
Tap on the ‘Leave’ option to unsubscribe from the beta program of the Instagram app.
Install the stable version of Instagram and you’ll get rid of the issue.
Several users on Reddit and other forums have tried this fix and are no longer facing the issue. However, some have complained that the fix doesn’t work for them. Therefore, I can’t guarantee that unsubscribing from the beta program will fix this bug, but it’s worth trying.