Linux Voice Podcast

In this episode: We're joined by Lennart Poettering to discuss the Devuan Debian fork, the latest version of Firefox and the launch of Rocket. Plus, we've got Finds and the Voice of the Masses, where we ask whether the Devuan fork a good thing.

News: Debian has forked with the creation of the systemd-less Devuan project. Firefox 34 has been released and includes 'Firefox Hello', its own WebRTC communication client. The Purism Librem is a new crowdfunded Linux laptop with an emphasis on freedom. HP has launched an EliteBook with SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 and FreeDOS as operating system options. And the Docker container community has launched a rival project called Rocket.

Finds of the Fortnight:

Graham:

Mark Shuttleworth is helping to restore botanical gardens on the Isle of Man, where he now lives.

Mike:

There are some weird and wonderful programming languages, including White Space and Malbolge.

Ben:

You can use an Android phone as a USB wifi modem.

Make sure you test everything before giving up and HDMI to analogue converters can work.

Andrew:

Danger, the Russians are watching your webcams.

Voice of the Masses: Is the Devuan fork a good thing?

In this episode: Google is nearly gone from Firefox. FreeBSD gets one million dollars. Gnome defends itself against Groupon and the latest LibreOffice breaks the bank. We've got a Finds section of epic proportions, plus Neurons to vocalise, and a Voice of the Masses that tries to make sense of the vitriuol behing the systemd debates.

News: Mozilla has abandoned its long-standing and lucrative arrangement with Google, switching to Yahoo and Bing in some territories. WhatsApp founder, Jan Koum, has donated $1,000,000 USD to the FreeBSD Foundation. WhatApp is also integrating TextSecure for one-to-one text chats with the Android client. The Jolla Tablet has become an unprecedented crowdfunding success. The GNOME community has successfully defended the GNOME Trademark against Groupon. And the latest version of the spreadsheet application in LibreOffice, Calc, breaks many documents. A new general resolution from Debian developers has decided packages still aren't obliged to support other init systems. A few developers have stepped down, including former Debian project lead, Ian Jackson, who has resigned. Also, the EFF and Mozilla are going to offer their own SSL certification.

Finds of the Fortnight: #linuxvoice IRC channel on Freenode:

Download some cool free chiptunes from keygenmusic.org, or listen to some on keygenjukebox.com

Clang is getting very good.

Create desktop applications with PHP or whatever PHP frameworks you prefer with Nightrain.

A solderless 68000 chip running Linux from a breadboard.

Graham:

Thousands of people are still protesting against the internet tax in Hungary.

CloudStack, the Linux Foundation, and The Apache Foundation are doing a great job in providing a genuine open source cloud alternative.

The Nexus 5 is actually quite easy to repair.

Ben:

Within two days of us releasing issue 1 under a Creative Commons licence, our Bytemark servers had served 650GB data, not including torrents, but thanks to CloudFlare's caching, we'd only really uploaded 60GB.

The sar command line tool logs your system's usage over time.

Andrew:

Danger, the Russians are watching your webcams.

Mike:

ncdu, like a file system usage visualiser for the command line (thanks to Kevin Collier)

Dervish, an rsync-based rotating network backup system (thanks Hans!)

An Arnold Schwarzenegger-based programming language called ArnoldC.

Vocalise Your Neurons:

Huge thanks to both Daniel and Dylan for their neurons. Here's the link to Redshift. If you'd like your neurons spoken with a Bavarian accent, email [email protected]. Thanks!

Voice of the Masses: Why are systemd debates so toxic?

In this episode: The Linux Outlaws podcast will come to an end before Christmas. Italy has freed itself of the Microsoft Tax. Real Time Linux needs funds and FreeBSD can legally drink in Georgia. Firefox OS is going to run on Raspberry Pis and, don't worry, the NSA is on our side. Plus we've also got an epic Finds of the Fortnight and an insightful Voice of the Masses.

News: After 7 years, the Linux Outlaws podcast is coming to an end. The Italian Supreme Court has banned the Microsoft Tax on the sale of new PCs. Real Time Linux may be stopped due to lack of funding. It's been 21 years since the first stable release of FreeBSD. Mozilla's Firefox OS is coming to a Raspberry Pi near you. Mike Rogers, director of the NSA, has said the NSA released a patch to Heartbleed only a day after they and the rest of the world discovered it. And there's a new Underhanded C Contest.

Finds of the Fortnight:

#linuxvoice on Freenode:

Static site building with Perl and templer.

There's a huge list of static site building generators at staticgen.com.

The BBC has removed some RSS feeds facilitating iPlayer access, and broken some not-so-very smart TVs in the process.

Cheap online backup for the truly paranoid - tarsnap.

The UK Government's Community Development Handbook.

A slick open source media server called MediaBrowser.tv.

There's a Kickstarter campaign to create a Jolla 'other half' keyboard.

Graham:

Be careful if you play with Google's Cardboard.

The Nexus 5 seems relatively easy to repair (don't blame us if it goes wrong).

Andrew:

Nominate your heroes for the Free Software Awards.

China is de-Windowsifying before 2010.

Ben:

TestDisk is awesome for recovering from 'dd' mistakes.

Vocalise Your Neurons:

With Mike going AWOL this episode, we didn't have any neurons to read, but if you'd like yours revealed next time, email [email protected]. Thanks!

Voice of the Masses: GCHQ is upset. Does this mean we're winning back our privacy?

In this episode: We've got more news than we know what to do with. ChromeOS maybe drops ext3. The ummutable Tor browser has reached version 4. Debian is still undecided and Ubuntu turns 10. We've got almost as many Finds as news stories, two neurons and an excellent Voice of the Masses.

What's in the show:

News:

Google's ChromeOS has dropped support for externel ext2/ext3/ext4 formatted devices. Google's ChromeOS reinstates support for externel ext/ext4 formatted devices. Shhhh! Tor Browser 4.0 has been released,and it can hide your data in secured streams running your machine and large cloud server providers. Some Debian people are now proposing that nothing at all depends on systemd, and threatening to fork Debian is they don't get their own way. It's been 10 years since the first version of Ubuntu, Warty Warthog. Microsoft now loves Linux. says CEO Satya Nadella. And you can help is crowdsource a recording of issue 1 here, thanks!

Finds of the Fortnight:

#linuxvoice on Freenode:

Matt Lee talking about GNU at Nottingham LUG next Thursday.

tmux us better than screen.

Test out websites on virtual smartphones and tablets with mobiletest.me.

Andrew:

The Humble Mozilla Bundle.

Ben:

Google's hi-tech virtual reality Cardboard is actually pretty good.

Installing Arch isn't painless if you've no ethernet.

Terminator is a fantastic terminal emulator.

Mike:

Mark Shuttleworth's original email to the potential Ubuntu team.

Graham:

Aura is a great package manager for Arch for both official and AUR packages.

The Span conference next week in London looks excellent.

And the G-Pack looks like the ultimate living room SteamOS games PC, if it can reach its loftyKickstarter target within the next week.

Vocalise Your Neurons:

Thanks to Tom and Nathaniel! If you'd like yours read out with a genuine John Lennon accent, email them to [email protected].

Voice of the Masses: Is there too much forking in FOSS?

In this episode: Shellshock was always one of our favourite New Order tracks, but now it's one of our least favourite Linux vulnerabilities. Adobe is dropping Reader support for Linux, but kind-of bringing Photoshop to Chrome OS. We have some great discoveries, a real live Voice of the Masses, and we're joined by the awesome Ben Nuttall of the Raspberry Pi Foundation [recorded infront of an audience, OggCamp 2014].

News: A huge vulnerability has been discovered in the Bash shell, makings lots of Linux and OS X servers wobble. Adobe is dropping Reader support for Linux, but Photoshop is coming to Chrome OS, sorta, kinda.

Finds of the Fortnight:

Andrew:

There's a concentration of people on the Autistic spectrum working at GCHQ.

Graham:

KDE's text editor, Kate, has a macro snippets system that can be programmed with a Javascript-like language.

And a show-stopping bug in Kate's snippets has been fixed by the author of the above blog post, Sven Brauch.

Ben (Everard):

WebSDR - software defined radio that lets listeners tune in to a frequency on a received broadcast frequency range from a specific location (many thanks to David Tarrant for this Find).

From our own torrent server seeding various distributions, CentOS 7 is the most seeded by other peers (meaning the peers leave their torrent is running after the download) while Kali and Knoppix are the top two in terms of peers quitting after the download has completed.

Ben (Nuttal):

The folks at PyCon last week were able to port the Python interface for Minecraft: Pi Edition to Python 3.

Send tweets from Python 3 with Twython.

Mike:

A bug in DMA Design's Race'n'Chase game led them to create Grand Theft Auto.

Voice of the Masses: Have Heartbleed and Shellshock changed your attitude to open source security?

In this episode: Debian is going to switch to Gnome. Native Netflix is coming to Ubuntu. Minecraft has been sold and TrueCrypt comes back from the dead. We've got lots of great finds, a long discussion about FOSS events and an extra-special guest.

News: After recently announcing its support for Systemd, it's looking likely that Gnome is going to become the default desktop for Debian. Native Netflix is now possible using Chrome and Ubuntu. We reported on the rumour last episode, but it's now confirmed that Microsoft is buying Minecraft and its game studio, Mojang, for $2,500,000,000 dollars. Minecraft's creator, Notch, is leaving after the deal, saying "I can't be responsible for something this big." TrueCrypt, the encryption tool of choice for terrorists whistleblowers everywhere has been reborn as CipherShed. Android applications can now be made to work on Linux, sort of. And one of Valve's major titles, Counter Strike: Major Offensive, has been released for £11.99 on Steam, for Linux.

Finds of the Fortnight:

Graham:

There's a collection of inscribed rings in the Ashmolean museum in Oxford that could have been part of the inspiration behind The One Ring.

The Ubuntu UK podcast is rather good.

Ben:

Penetration testing from your phone, with Kali Linux Nexus Nethunter

Python is the leading language, according to Subreddit subscribers, followed by Javascript and then... Java!

Mark:

The Linux Steam client can now stream games to SteamOS or other local Steam clients.

Andrew:

There's a scale model of the solar system just outside of York.

Mike:

There's a Firefox extension called Pentadactyle that can add Vim-like keyboard controls to your web browser.

And why does Firefox builds break extensions so often?

Voice of the Masses: Are you attending any FOSS events?

In this episode: The NHS dumps Oracle for an open source solution. Five million GMail account details have been leaked. There's a MEGAsync GUI client for Linux and the Free Software Foundation and Debian are getting together to help with a free software hardware database. We've got are usual array of finds, possibly a neuron or three and a rather complex Voice of the Masses.

News: In the UK, the NHS has dumped Oracle for an open source NoSQL database solution it's calling Spine2. There's an NHS open source Hack Day taking place in Leeds, 27th-28th of September. Systemd is coming for Gnome 3.14. Mega, the file sharing platform created by Kim Dotcom, is about to get a Linux client, called MEGAsync. There are five million compromised Google GMail accounts with passwords. The Free Software Foundation and Debian have got together to work on Debian compatible free software hardware list at h-node.org. And Microsoft is buying Minecraft for $2 billion.

Finds of the Fortnight:

Graham:

Fez is still a wonderful game. But there won't be a sequel from Phil Phish.

Tame touchpad multitouch on a Synaptic's touchpad with xSwipe.

Andrew (sorry for the glitchy recording):

LibreOffice can open CorelDRAW files from 1999.

Mike:

It's illegal to own a guinea pig in Switzerland.

Chocolatey; it's like apt-get, but for Windows.

Like Doom? Enjoy Rogue? You'll love DoomRL.

Ben:

Ben now lives in the house of a probable serial killer.

It takes two weeks to get an internet connection in Bristol.

You can disable background data usage in Android.

Vocalise Your Neurons:

Many thanks to all our ace neurons this episode! Don't forget, you can give your brains a Gloucester/Bristol accent by emailing them to [email protected].

Voice of the Masses: Do you like systemd?

In this episode: We've got XBMC shapeshifting fun, Debian running on all 64-bits of ARM CPUs, super-safe two factor authentication making it into the kernel and everything's (probably) alright in Munich. There's conference news, perhaps our longest 'Finds' section, a tripple neuron spectacular and a super-ace Voice of the Masses.

In this episode: We've got lots of good news from various governmental institutions, including Valencia, Geneva, Toulouse and the UK. GOG now officially supports Linux. Tails is broken and Windows recalculates its market share. We've got some reasonable discoveries, no neurons and another exceptional Voice of the Masses.

In this episode: The Raspberry Pi gets an upgrade. Linux Journal gets snooped. CentOS 7 is out and nearly all the world's super-computers run Linux. There's a new version of KDE, but a KDE tablet has been cancelled. We've also got finds, neurons and a spectacular Voice of the Masses.