LINUX Unplugged

Latest Episodes:

486: Goodbye, Google Nov 27, 2022

Show notes

Chris ditches the iPhone and switches to GrapheneOS, a security and privacy-focused project that lets you take control back from Google.

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Tailscale: Tailscale is a programmable networking software that is private and secure by default - get it free on up to 100 devices!
Linode Cloud Hosting: A special offer for all Linux Unplugged Podcast listeners and new Linode customers, visit linode.com/unplugged, and receive $100 towards your new account.
Bitwarden: Bitwarden is the easiest way for businesses and individuals to store, share, and sync sensitive data.

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Computer Chronicles - Intel 486 — In 1992, the big issue was - is it worth the money to upgrade my 386 PC to the new 486 chip? This program looks at the performance of the new Intel 486 and helps users decide.
GrapheneOS — The private and secure mobile operating system with Android app compatibility. Developed as a non-profit open source project.
GrapheneOS: Supported Phones
GrapheneOS: Features Overview
Sandboxed Google Play overview for GrapheneOS
Lockscreen bypass fixed in November’s update - discovered by GrapheneOS in June
GrapheneOS on Twitter — We independently discovered the Android lockscreen bypass fixed in Android's November security update while working on features like a duress PIN/password.
A week with GrapheneOS exposed my over-reliance on Google
GrapheneOS Initial Impressions
Banking Applications Compatibility with GrapheneOS
HERE WeGo — Maps & Navigation
Fountain on Twitter — More sats = higher signal⚡️📡
Hot on Fountain
DAVx⁵ — CalDAV, CardDAV and WebDAV for Android
Bitwarden: Top 10 Burning Questions on 2FA
n.eko — A self hosted virtual browser that runs in docker and uses WebRTC.
Install NVIDIA Drivers on Debian 11
deemix — deemix is a barebone deezer downloader library built from the ashes of Deezloader Remix.
lidarr-on-steroids
nostr — The simplest open protocol that is able to create a censorship-resistant global "social" network once and for all.
Pick: Upscaler — Upscale and enhance images.
Frog by Tender Owl
Frog on Flathub
A Science Project — “Make the 486 Great Again!”
Linus Torvalds bids 486 Linux adieu — It's been fun, but Linus Torvalds thinks it's time for 486 Linux to leave computers behind and go to museums.

485: Mystery Box Nov 20, 2022

Show notes

We dig into Shufflecake, a tool that lets Linux users hide data with plausible deniability, then let our live stream SSH into our server and see if they can discover our secret data.

Plus, we follow up on Brent's never-ending desktop distro search and Chris' new Linux rig.

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Just a bunch of idiots having fun—a photo history of the LAN party
Introducing Shufflecake — Shufflecake is a tool for Linux that allows creation of multiple hidden volumes on a storage device in such a way that it is very difficult, even under forensic inspection, to prove the existence of such volumes. Each volume is encrypted with a different secret key, scrambled across the empty space of an underlying existing storage medium, and indistinguishable from random noise when not decrypted.
Hidden Filesystem Design and Improvement - Elia Anzuoni — We propose a novel design, a scheme called Shufflecake, which targets a more balanced compromise between performance and security. The level of deniability it offers, while not protecting against attacks in the most stringent threat model, is sufficient in many practical scenarios.
Tommaso Gagliardoni’s Homepage
Linux kernel module for Shufflecake
Shufflecake Userland Tools
Fedora upgrade failed due to dep failure
Comparing openSUSE MicroOS and Fedora Silverblue 37
Scaling Mastodon is Impossible
Using Mastodon for comments on a static blog
TwitterToNitter — Bookmarklet that shows the current Twitter page on Nitter. On every click it choses a random Nitter instance.
libredirect — A web extension that redirects YouTube, Twitter, Instagram... requests to alternative privacy friendly frontends and backends.

484: Fedora Falls Flat Nov 13, 2022

Show notes

Why this latest release of Fedora misses the mark, and Ubuntu's quiet backing away from ZFS.

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SteamOS Has Finally Been Rebased to the Latest Version of Arch Linux!
Fedora 37 is GO — The Fedora Linux 37 Final RC 1.7 compose is GO and will be shipped live on Tuesday, 15 November.
Fedora 37 ChangeSet
Announcing the release of Fedora Linux 37 Beta
NixOS on Fedora
Is it true that mesa-freeworld hasn't been published on RPM Fusion yet?
Schedules/Plasma 5 - KDE Community Wiki
Fedora 37 Plasma Login Fuzzzz
How to Install a Mastodon Server on Ubuntu 20.04 on Linode
Don’s use ZSYS · Issue #230 · ubuntu/zsys — Finally I just want to say I regret having to say this. ZFS and ZSYS are both great technologies. They're ideal solutions to big problems and really move the state of the art forward. Unfortunately, their implementations are both 90% ideal but 10% incomplete.
Bug #1968150 “[FFe] Remove zsys from installer” : Bugs : ubiquity package : Ubuntu
Chris B’s Deep Fake funny and crazy ChrisLAS images.
NAS Board ODROID Killer N5105/N6005
Nexcom Industrial Low Power Rigs
Bitcoin Dad Pod Episode 50: Effective Scam-Truism
Bitcoin General Chat on Matrix
Bitcoin Q&A Room
Pocket Popcorn Computer — Finally, a handheld Linux device with a high-definition 1080p display and large battery life.
Pleroma — a lightweight fediverse server
Podcasting 2.0 Apps
Coqui TTS — A deep learning toolkit for Text-to-Speech, battle-tested in research and production.

483: Chris Is Done With Raspberry Pi Nov 06, 2022

Show notes

We surprise each other with three different topics, and Chris has a big update on the ODROID H3+.

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The Steam Linux Beta Begins…
Steam Linux Use Tips Up In October Thanks To The Steam Deck — The growth of Steam Deck adoption also now bumps AMD's CPU marketshare among Steam on Linux gamers to 56% against Intel, an increase in October alone of +4.37%.
GitHub Issue: Geocatching details on site
ODROID-H3+ – ODROID — Great compatibility, a brand new x86 64-bit single board computer with large memory capacity and advanced IO ports.
ODROID-H3 Case Type 2 – ODROID
ODROID-H3 Case Type 3 – ODROID
plex - LinuxServer.io
Jellyfin intro-skipper Plugin
Tuxies Board Room
Ubuntu Summit 2022 — An opportunity for the broader Ubuntu community to learn and speak about the amazing work and success stories happening in the ecosystem.
How to Revert the Last Git Commit | Linode
Snapcraft.io
What happened to signal-desktop? - snapcraft.io — This is due to a DMCA takedown request coming from people representing Signal. Canonical is currently working with Signal to resolve this issue.
“signal-desktop” not found · Issue #70 · snapcrafters/signal-desktop
Install signal-desktop on Linux | Snap Store
Godot Engine — Free and open source 2D and 3D game engine.
Godot’s Graduation: Godot moves to a new Foundation — Software Freedom Conservancy and the Godot leadership are excited to share their decision that the Godot project has reached a level of success for which it makes sense for Godot to have its own independent foundation.
Announcing Godot’s Graduation from SFC!
I will try my best to explain why the upcoming @godotengine foundation can’t offer Console ports.
Open source game development advances with Godot Engine 3.5 out now
The next big step: Godot 4.0 reaches Beta
Godot: Exporting for Linux
Mastodon gained 70,000 users after Musk’s Twitter takeover. I joined them
With Twitter in chaos, Mastodon is on fire | CNN Business
How to securely store secrets in BitWarden CLI and load them into your ZSH shell when needed | by Zack Proser | Oct, 2022 | Gruntwork
Intel ME-Enabled System Needed For Updating Arc Graphics GSC Firmware — Update: Intel reached out to say firmware updating will work on AMD platforms, but awaiting to hear futher details.
Podcasting 2.0 Apps

482: Legacy Gets the Boot Oct 30, 2022

Show notes

Are the long-timers holding Linux back? Lennart Poettering argues we are and proposes a new Microsoft-blessed way to secure Linux.

Plus, our thoughts on the slow decline of mailing lists in open-source development.

Special Guest: Neal Gompa.

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“Old/weird laptops” sought to help test Linux kernel backlight drivers — You could help smooth out a long-needed overhaul of Linux's backlight systems.
The GNOME Project is closing all its mailing lists — The GNOME Project is preparing to shut down its mailing lists due to problems maintaining the project's GNU Mailman instance - which relies on Python 2 - and a lack of moderators.
[Evolution] Announcement: this mailing list will be retired
Re: Moving final mailman lists over to discourse
Issues · jupiterbroadcasting.com
Office Hours 15: One PR At a Time — We recap a busy night after a studio power outage, then dig into what makes an open-source project worth contributing to. Why do some fail while others grow and prosper?
How I make a living working on SerenityOS — This post describes in detail how I support myself while working on the SerenityOS project.
Systemd supremo proposes tightening up Linux boot process — In brief, what he sees as the problem is that on hardware with Secure Boot enabled, while the boot process up to and including the kernel is signed, the next step, loading the initrd, is not. That's what he wants to fix.
Brave New Trusted Boot World — This document looks at the boot process of general purpose Linux distributions. It covers the status quo and how we envision Linux boot to work in the future with a focus on robustness and simplicity.
NixOS bootspec-secureboot — This repository is a research project that aims to improve the bootloader story in NixOS.
Matthew's NixOS Screen shot
Grab a new podcast app — Upgrade to a Podcasting 2.0 compatible app.
vhs: Your CLI home video recorder 📼 — Write terminal GIFs as code for integration testing and demoing your CLI tools.
FFmpeg.guide — A simple GUI tool to create complex FFmpeg filtergraphs quickly and correctly, without having to mess with the cumbersome filter syntax

481: Just a Prompt Away Oct 23, 2022

Show notes

The Internet is going crazy with AI-generated media. What's the open-source story, and is Linux being left out?

Plus, we try out the new Ubuntu release on the ODROID H3+.

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KDE neon on Twitter: "KDE neon Rebased on Jammy…
Ubuntu 22.10 - Kinetic Kudu — Ubuntu Desktop 22.10 users will benefit from the refinements in GNOME 43, including GTK4 theming for improved performance and consistency. Quick Settings now provide faster access to commonly used options such as wifi, bluetooth, dark mode and power settings.
ODROID-H3+ — Intel® Quad-Core Jasper Lake N6005, Up to 64GB Dual-channel Memory DDR4, PCIe 3.0 x 4 lanes, 2 x 2.5Gbit Ethernet ports, 2 x SATA 3.0 ports, and more!
AI is taking over the iconic voice of Darth Vader, with the blessing of James Earl Jones | TechCrunch
Why the Future of Open Source AI is So Much Bigger Than Stable Diffusion 1.5 and Why It Matters to You — In the absence of news from us, rumors started swirling about why we didn't release the next version yet. Some folks in the community worry that Stability AI has gone closed source and that we'll never release a model again. It's simply not true. We are committed to open source at our very core.
Would you pay $10 to create AI chatbot of dead loved one?
Setup for stable-diffusion-webui-docker
AUTOMATIC1111's Stable Diffusion Webui — A browser interface based on Gradio library for Stable Diffusion.
Stable Diffusion CPU
Get Started with Linode GPU
Guides - Installing the NVIDIA CUDA Toolkit
CUDA Toolkit 11.8 Downloads
NVIDIA Container Toolkit — The NVIDIA Container Toolkit allows users to build and run GPU accelerated containers. The toolkit includes a container runtime library and utilities to automatically configure containers to leverage NVIDIA GPUs.
LURE (Linux User REpository) — LURE is intended to bring the AUR to all distros. It is currently in an alpha state and may not be stable. It can download a repository, build packages in it using a bash script similar to PKGBUILD, and then install them using your system package manager.

480: Taming the Beast Oct 16, 2022

Show notes

Linus Tech Tips blows it again, and we clean up. Plus, we push System76's updated Thelio Workstation to the breaking point.

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Intel Arc GPUs NOT supporting Linux any time soon
Please Buy Intel GPUs. - LTT
Intel Arc Graphics Running On Fully Open-Source Linux Driver - Phoronix — A common misconception or confusion I've heard many times over the past number of months has been questioning whether Intel's discrete GPU driver support on Linux is open-source or is closed-source, etc. Well, it's fully open-source aside from the usual firmware caveat and running on Linux.
The new Thelio — We believed that we could make an open hardware desktop that’s powerful, compact, quiet, beautiful, upgradable, backed by lifetime support, and manufactured in the United States—so we did. Customize your components, your software, even your aesthetic with swappable accents made for any mindset.
System76 Thelio AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 24, X250-kernel, Devone-kernel Benchmark Comparison
System76 Thelio vs Dev One - Workstation Benchmark
Thelio, Devone, X250 - Workstation Benchmark Comparison
System76 Thelio AMD Ryzen 9 5900X 24 - Time Linux Kernel Benchmark
Unigene Superposition
UNIGINE Superposition Video - 8K 60 FPS - YouTube
Why do people love NixOS so much?
Nix team creation - Announcements - NixOS Discourse

479: Good Software, Bad Blood Oct 09, 2022

Show notes

What the heck is going on? Fedora is dropping features, GNOME is getting Iced, and the mistake we'll never make again. We've got a lot to sort out.

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Tasks - Nextcloud Apps — Tasks can be shared between users. Tasks can be synchronized using CalDAV (each task list is linked to an Nextcloud calendar, to sync it to your local client: Thunderbird, Evolution, KDE Kontact, iCal … - just add the calendar as a remote calendar in your client). You can download your tasks as ICS files using the download button for each calendar.
Home Assistant Yellow — Home Assistant Yellow integrates 1,000+ different devices and services, allowing you to create powerful automations and get insight into your energy usage. All from an easy-to-use interface that runs 100% locally without anything in the cloud.
Oh No!😱Fedora is Dropping Support for Popular Video Codecs — Primarily, it will affect AMD GPU users using open-source drivers, preventing them using GPU acceleration to play video content that requires using these codecs. Additionally, it also affects any user who uses open-source graphics drivers, even if they run iGPUs on Intel chips.
recent commit to Mesa on Fedora
Tom Callaway on Twitter
System76’s Pop!_OS COSMIC Desktop To Make Use Of Iced Rust Toolkit — The UX team has been carefully designing widgets and applications over the last year. We are now at the point where it is critical for the engineering team to decide upon a GUI toolkit for COSMIC. After much deliberation and experimentation over the last year, the engineering team has decided to use Iced instead of GTK.
Reddit Comment That Kicked All this Off
Iced toolkit — A cross-platform GUI library for Rust focused on simplicity and type-safety. Inspired by Elm.
Comment thread on Reddit that kicked it all off
Jeremy Soller on Twitter
Jeremy Soller on Twitter
Jeremy Soller on Twitter
Checklist of things going into Iced for Cosmic
Acastus — Acastus Photon is a completely private, free and open source Address / POI lookup application for android.
photon.komoot.io — Search as you type with OpenStreetMap
pelias.io
Auto Move Windows - GNOME Shell Extensions
Podcasting 2.0 Apps

478: The Best of Both Worlds Oct 02, 2022

Show notes

We go hands-on at NASA's JPL and learn why Linux is the best OS for Earth and Mars.

Special Guest: Tim Canham.

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412Linux on Twitter — Sadly, @ChrisLAS is the first person I thought about after reading the Stadia update. He really did believe in it. Can't wait to hear his t
A message about Stadia and our long term streaming strategy — A few years ago, we also launched a consumer gaming service, Stadia. And while Stadia's approach to streaming games for consumers was built on a strong technology foundation, it hasn't gained the traction with users that we expected so we’ve made the difficult decision to begin winding down our Stadia streaming service.
The Verge blames Linux — Google spent millions convincing publishers like Ubisoft and Take-Two to bring their biggest games to Stadia. Google had to pay such large sums because the work to port games over wasn’t particularly easy given Stadia runs on Linux, a platform game developers haven’t paid enough attention to.
Stadia died because no one trusts Google
Grants Pass Geocache Location
Sacramento Geocache Location
Pasadena Geocache Location
Office Hours 13: One Long Monday
Check out our Meetups
Our West Coast Matrix Crew
Immich
Storj
Google Photos is messing up old backed-up images for some users
frozear's NixOS Config — It uses Awesome Window Manager, the Ranger file manager and Kitty for a terminal. Dotfiles for those three are included.
Ham Radio Linux Distributions
Linux in the Ham Shack
Podcasting 2.0 Apps
Bitrefill — Buy Gift Cards & Top Up Airtime with Bitcoin or Crypto
JPL Open Source Rover Project — A build-it-yourself, 6-wheel rover based on the rovers on Mars!