Table of Contents

From The Chief Editor's Desk

Short Topix: Potentially BIG Power Savings Coming With Linux Kernel 5.8

ms_meme's Nook: Yankee Doodle Tux

Zoom Will Offer End-To-End Encryption To All Its Users

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Black and Bleu Steak Skillet for Two

Microsoft's Deadly Love

Terminal Fun With screenFetch

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight - Mr. Lumbergh

PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes

GIMP Tutorial: Pattern Filters For Different Effects

ms_meme's Nook: We Saw The Light

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitions

Screenshot Showcase

From The Chief Editor's Desk

I'm in quite a quandary. Back in 2015, I wrote up an article about building a HTPC. I used an off-business-lease refurbished computer, the HP DC5800, as the "base" of the system. I added a nVidia GT610 video card, and a wireless mouse and keyboard combo from Logitech.

Since I wrote that article, I've gotten a different, newer "smart" TV. It has the ability to stream movies from many sources. Because of that, I really don't use the HTPC much to stream movies. More, I use it more as a dedicated media server that is connected only to my living room TV. It's definitely not what my intention was when I built the HTPC. Of course, the HTPC runs PCLinuxOS with the Xfce desktop.

Time for a picnic in the bed of dad's pickup truck. Even though things are opening back up, we won't go eat at a restaurant. Nope. It's way too risky. Instead, we order it "to go" and have a picnic outdoors.

Over the 5+ years since I built the HTPC, I never quite got around to upgrading the 2GiB of RAM on the computer. I'm rectifying that issue this week, with the purchase of 4GiB of DDR2 RAM for the computer. It has shipped, and should be arriving in a few days (from the time I'm writing this). But wait, there's more.

The nVidia video card is no longer supported. In fact, to update my system, I had to use an old release of Trinity that had a working nVidia driver for the video card. Otherwise, I had nothing but a blank screen once GRUB2 finished its boot duties. So, once I was able to get PCLinuxOS installed, I disabled the nVidia driver, and used the open source nouveau driver. That worked perfectly ... for a while.

And actually, it still works fine ... just so long as I don't use a 5.x Linux kernel. Any attempts to use a Linux kernel greater than 4.9.x results in a blank screen. Ouch! There's that $%*& blank screen issue, again!

I know that hardware reaches a point where it's no longer supported. But it sure seems that nVidia is one of the worst about dropping support for older cards. And granted, the computer that I used as a base over five years ago was released in the fourth quarter of 2008, nearly 12 years ago. Even though it sports a 64 bit architecture, it's not what you would call a speed demon. But then, for a HTPC, I didn't expect it to be. The video card becomes increasingly more important to fulfill that particular role.

Since I wrote up my original article over five years ago, I've added a 256GiB SSD and a 2TiB HDD to the system -- both within this past year. Storing movies and other assorted videos consumes a LOT of storage space.

Once the new RAM arrives, I'll install it and have 6GiB of RAM installed on the system. That should help with the somewhat anemic performance from the machine. But, the handwriting is on the proverbial wall. This computer will not be able to continue to perform its expected duties as a HTPC forever.

So, I'm starting to look around for a newer computer to use as a base for a newer HTPC. Prices have definitely gone up over the past five years, even for off-lease refurbished business class computers. I did find one listed on Newegg that should fit the bill. It's an HP ProDesk 600 G1 - SFF Intel Core i5 4th Gen 4570 (3.20 GHz) 8 GB DDR3 500 GB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4600. My only concern is with the Intel HD Graphics 4600. Intel doesn't necessarily have the best track record for graphics performance. However, I suspect that it should function just fine as a HTPC. I'll purchase an add-on video card with better capabilities later, if I find that the Intel onboard graphics don't perform adequately. But I'll wait to see how the Intel graphics perform, first. The price for this particular computer is more than twice what I paid for the current system five years ago.

As for the 256GiB SSD and 2TiB drives that I recently installed on the current system, I'll just move them into the new computer. And, of course, the wireless mouse and keyboard combo will be moved to the new computer. If I can get another five years usage out of the new system, as I've done with the current system, it'll be a bargain. That will amount to just a little over $30 per year for the convenience of a HTPC.

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This month's cover commemorates July as International Joke Month. Meemaw created Tux in a Court Jester costume, surrounded by one-liners all the way around.

**********

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity ... and continued good health! Remember that this pandemic isn't close to being over. Be safe!

Short Topix: Potentially BIG Power Savings Coming With Linux Kernel 5.8

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

Wallpaper Image "Soft-Bricks" Android Phones

Eeeek!

A seemingly innocuous, pretty, peaceful JPG image (above) has been circulating ... and it has been "soft-bricking" Android phones when users set it as the wallpaper on their mobile device. It was first reported on Twitter by Ice Universe, with a follow up here by Dylan Roussel, a contributor to 9to5Google.

No, the image doesn't contain a virus or anything like that. The image above uses RGB color space, when Android 10 (and below) is expecting images to use sRGB color space. Since it doesn't use the proper colorspace, it basically throws your Android mobile device into an endless loop, effectively bricking it.

Don't worry. I have already converted the above image so that it occupies/uses the proper color space (sRGB).

If users set the unaltered image as the wallpaper on their Android mobile device, there are only two ways to gain access to the mobile device. One way is to boot it in safe mode and remove the image once booted. The other way is to do a factory reset on your mobile device.

The upcoming Android 11 does not have this issue, since it converts wallpaper images to the proper sRGB color space.

Dark Web Hosting Provider Hacked, Account Info Leaked

Daniel's Hosting, the largest free web hosting provider for dark web services, had its database of email addresses, account passwords, and private keys leaked online by a hacker who goes by KingNull, all according to an article on ZDNet.

The breach occurred on March 10, 2020. On March 26, 2020, Daniel's Hosting closed up shop, urging all of its "customers" to seek new homes with new dark web hosting services. It resulted in 7,600 dark web websites to go down, which represented one-third of all dark web portals. The database was released on the web on March 31, 2020 on a file hosting portal.

It is hoped that the leaked data can tie or link owners of the leaked email addresses to dark web portal sites. Hopefully, police officials will be able to track down those who are running or taking part in illegal activities on at least some of these sites.

Daniel's Hosting had been hacked once before, in November, 2018. Then, a hacker breached the site's backend database server, and deleted all 6,500 sites. No data was hacked or released from that particular hacking.

Potentially BIG Power Savings Coming With Linux Kernel 5.8

As reported in an article on the Phoronix website, a 12 year old bug in the Linux kernel could be rectified by the deletion of 10 lines of code in the Linux kernel. Ok, well, it's four lines of comments and six actual lines of code.

As it turns out, PCIe-to-PCI (and PCI-X) bridges have not had ASPM (Active State Power Management) enabled. This, in turn, could keep the CPU in higher power states than is necessary. As a result, lots of power is potentially wasted by keeping the CPU in higher power states. Fixing this may mean that users will get longer battery life from laptops.

Back in 2008, the ASPM code merged into the Linux kernel disabled ASPM for PCI bridges. 12 years later, that code is simply being deleted, via a patch.

PCIe-to-PCI bridges can be commonly found on servers and workstations. There is a good possibility that the patch will be backported to other stable branches of the Linux kernel.

Google Sued For Tracking Users In Private Browsing Mode

Google was sued on June 2, 2020, in a proposed class action accusing the internet search company of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by tracking their internet use from browsers set in "private" browsing mode, according to an article on Fox Business.

The lawsuit, which accuses Google's parent company Alphabet, Inc. of illegally collecting information about what users were viewing online and where they were going, all while using their browsers in private browsing mode. This included checking in via Google Analytics and Google Ad manager.

The lawsuit seeks a $5 billion award pool, where millions of users can claim either $5,000 or three times actual damages, whichever is greater.

Will Facebook Remorse Become A Thing Of The Past?

In an announcement widely reported on in the tech press, Facebook has introduced a "Manage Activity Tool." Through it, you can delete or archive old posts you don't want anyone to see ... or that you don't want to follow you around for the rest of time.

From the announcement:

"Whether you're entering the job market after college or moving on from an old relationship, we know things change in people's lives, and we want to make it easy for you to curate your presence on Facebook to more accurately reflect who you are today. That's why we're launching Manage Activity to help you archive or trash old posts, all in one place.

The archive feature is for content you no longer want others to see on Facebook, but that you still want to keep for yourself. For example, you could archive a post you made when you were in high school that you still find amusing but that you'd rather not be seen by anyone else on Facebook.

Manage Activity also allows you to move posts you no longer want to the trash. Posts sent to the trash will stay there for 30 days before being deleted unless you choose to manually delete or restore them before then. This gives you some wiggle room in case you change your mind about deleting old posts.

And to make it simpler to manage lots of posts at once, Manage Activity lets you view and manage your posts in bulk. We've also developed filters to help you sort and find what you're looking for, like posts with specific people or from a specific date range."

Finally, Facebook Remorse may be a thing of the past ... but only if you avail yourself of this opportunity.

The Manage Activity Tool will roll out first on Facebook's mobile apps, and should make it to desktop computers shortly after making its debut on the mobile apps.

Google Chrome Extensions Set Up Massive Spying Network

Awake Security informed Reuters that they uncovered a massive spyware effort that affects nearly 33 million users, via downloads of extensions in the Google Chrome web store. Google states that they removed over 70 of the extensions from the Chrome web store after being informed of their presence by the security firm.

Most of the extensions are free, and either warn users about questionable websites or convert files from one format to another. In the background, they siphoned off browsing history and data that provided credentials for access to internal business tools.

Due to the enormous number of downloads, this malware exploit makes it the largest Chrome campaign to date. The authors of the extensions used fake contact information when they submitted the extensions to Google.

According to the report from Awake Security (first link, above), all of the extensions conduct their criminal activity via a single Internet Domain Registrar: CommuniGal Communication Ltd. (GalComm). Of the over 26,000 reachable domains registered through GalComm, nearly 60% are malicious or suspicious. A tab separated list of the domains can be downloaded here.

In the past three months alone, Awake Security has "harvested 111 malicious or fake Chrome extensions using GalComm domains for attacker command and control infrastructure and/or as loader pages for the extensions. These extensions can take screenshots, read the clipboard, harvest credential tokens stored in cookies or parameters, grab user keystrokes (like passwords), etc."

New Linux Foundation FREE Training Course On edX

The Linux Foundation and Continuous Delivery Foundation are proud to announce the immediate availability of a new free training course on the edX platform, LFS167x -- Introduction to Jenkins. Jenkins is the leading open source automation server, providing hundreds of plugins to support building, deploying and automating any project.

The course covers the fundamentals of continuous integration/continuous delivery (CI/CD), and how they help transform the overall software delivery process. It is most useful for roles such as DevOps engineers, software developers and architects, and professionals focused on site reliability and quality assurance, though anyone involved in the software delivery process will benefit. It includes a detailed introduction to the Jenkins automation server, and also provides instructions on how to set up/use Jenkins for CI/CD workflows.

Upon completion, enrollees will have a solid understanding of the role that Jenkins plays in the software development lifecycle, how to install a Jenkins server, how to build software with it, how to manage third party integrations/plugins and how to scale and secure Jenkins. They will also get a glimpse of what they can do to further enhance their CI/CD skills.

Introduction to Jenkins was developed by Deepika Gautam, an author, speaker, trainer, DevOps evangelist with almost two decades of experience in the software industry. She specializes in implementing DevOps toolchains in multi cloud environments and is a co-founder of Aplima Solutions, a DevOps consulting and training company.

Start your journey to improving your software delivery processes -- enroll today!

Take A Virtual Tour Of The International Space Station

While most of us will NEVER get the chance to visit the International Space Station personally, there's nothing to stop you from taking a 360 degree virtual tour of it via Google Arts & Culture, online.

Now, you can explore the INSIDE of the ISS, and click and scroll your way through rooms full of equipment and go down the narrow tunnels that link modules of the ISS together. If you're looking to keep the kids entertained ... or even if you're curious yourself ... Google Arts & Culture also has an interactive article that features 10 outstanding (and out of this world) facts about the ISS.

If space travel is something you're interested in, Google Arts & Culture also features an inside look at the July 20, 1969 moon landing. Others feature historic images from space travel, information on Galileo and space travel, a day-in-the-life of a cosmonaut, and an exhibit on the Viking Mars Mission.

We Are Probably NOT Alone ...

Is there anyone out there? This is an age-old question that researchers have now shed new light on with a study that calculates there could be more than 30 intelligent civilizations throughout our Galaxy. This is an enormous advance over previous estimates which spanned from zero to billions.

One of the biggest and longest-standing questions in the history of human thought is whether there are other intelligent life forms within our Universe. Obtaining good estimates of the number of possible extraterrestrial civilizations has however been very challenging.

A new study led by the University of Nottingham and published today in The Astrophysical Journal has taken a new approach to this problem. Using the assumption that intelligent life forms on other planets in a similar way as it does on Earth, researchers have obtained an estimate for the number of intelligent communicating civilizations within our own galaxy -the Milky Way. They calculate that there could be over 30 active communicating intelligent civilizations in our home Galaxy.

Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Nottingham, Christopher Conselice who led the research, explains: "There should be at least a few dozen active civilizations in our Galaxy under the assumption that it takes 5 billion years for intelligent life to form on other planets, as on Earth." Conselice also explains that, "The idea is looking at evolution, but on a cosmic scale. We call this calculation the Astrobiological Copernican Limit."

First author Tom Westby explains: "The classic method for estimating the number of intelligent civilizations relies on making guesses of values relating to life, whereby opinions about such matters vary quite substantially. Our new study simplifies these assumptions using new data, giving us a solid estimate of the number of civilizations in our Galaxy.

The two Astrobiological Copernican limits are that intelligent life forms in less than 5 billion years, or after about 5 billion years -- similar to on Earth where a communicating civilization formed after 4.5 billion years. In the strong criteria, whereby a metal content equal to that of the Sun is needed (the Sun is, relatively speaking, quite metal rich), we calculate that there should be around 36 active civilizations in our Galaxy."

The research shows that the number of civilizations depends strongly on how long they are actively sending out signals of their existence into space, such as radio transmissions from satellites, television, etc. If other technological civilizations last as long as ours which is currently 100 years old, then there will be about 36 ongoing intelligent technical civilizations throughout our Galaxy.

However, the average distance to these civilizations would be 17,000 light-years away, making detection and communication very difficult with our present technology. It is also possible that we are the only civilization within our Galaxy unless the survival times of civilizations like our own are long.

Our new research suggests that searches for extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations not only reveals the existence of how life forms, but also gives us clues for how long our own civilization will last. If we find that intelligent life is common then this would reveal that our civilization could exist for much longer than a few hundred years, alternatively if we find that there are no active civilizations in our Galaxy it is a bad sign for our own long-term existence. By searching for extraterrestrial intelligent life -- even if we find nothing -- we are discovering our own future and fate. Professor Christopher Conselice

ms_meme's Nook: Yankee Doodle Tux

MP3                                                             OGG

Zoom Will Offer End-To-End Encryption To All Its Users

by Gennie Gebhart
June 17, 2020, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Reprinted under Creative Commons Attribution License 3.0

We are glad to see Zoom's announcement today that it plans to offer end-to-end encryption to all its users, not just those with paid subscriptions. Zoom initially stated it would develop end-to-end encryption as a premium feature. Now, after 20,000 people signed on to EFF and Mozilla's open letter to Zoom, Zoom has done the right thing, changed course, and taken a big step forward for privacy and security.

Other enterprise companies like Slack, Microsoft, and Zoom's direct competitor Cisco should follow suit and recognize, in the Zoom announcement's words, "the legitimate right of all users to privacy" on their services. Companies have a prerogative to charge more money for an advanced product, but best-practice privacy and security features should not be restricted to users who can afford to pay a premium.

The pandemic has moved more activities online--and specifically onto Zoom--than ever before. For an enterprise tool like Zoom, that means new users that the company never expected and did not design for, and all the unanticipated security and privacy problems that come with that sudden growth. Zoom's decision to offer end-to-end encryption more widely is especially important because the people who cannot afford enterprise subscriptions are often the ones who need strong security and privacy protections the most. For example, many activists rely on Zoom as an organizing tool, including the Black-led movement against police violence.

To use Zoom's end-to-end encryption, free users will have to provide additional information, like a phone number, to authenticate. As Zoom notes, this is a common method for mitigating abuse, but phone numbers were never designed to be persistent all-purpose individual identifiers, and using them as such creates new risks for users. In different contexts, Signal, Facebook, and Twitter have all encountered disclosure and abuse problems with user phone numbers. At the very least, the phone numbers that users give Zoom should be used only for authentication, and only by Zoom. Zoom should not use these phone numbers for any other purpose, and should never require users to reveal them to other parties.

The early beta of end-to-end encryption on Zoom will arrive next month. Users should still take steps to harden their Zoom settings to defend against trolls and other privacy threats. In the meantime, we applaud Zoom's decision to make these privacy and security enhancements available to all of their hundreds of millions of users.

PCLinuxOS Recipe Corner: Black and Bleu Steak Skillet for Two

Black & Bleu Steak Skillet For Two

INGREDIENTS:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 boneless beef strip steak (about 12 oz), trimmed
1 teaspoon Montreal steak grill seasoning
1 medium shallot, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
4 cups baby arugula
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a 10-inch skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium heat. Season steak with grill seasoning. Add to the skillet; cook 9 to 11 minutes, turning once, until the meat thermometer inserted in the center reads 135F (medium-rare) or to desired doneness. Remove to a cutting board, and let stand for 5 minutes. Cut steak into 1/4-inch slices.

2. Meanwhile, add shallot to the same skillet; cook over medium heat 1 minute, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; add balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil and the honey; stir constantly 1 to 2 minutes or until shallots are coated and vinegar mixture is blended. Remove from heat.

3. Place arugula on a serving plate; top with steak slices, shallots and blue cheese.

TIPS:

Pair this steak skillet with a side of potatoes and red wine for a cozy dinner for two.

Montreal steak grill seasoning is readily available in the spice aisle of your grocery store. If you just want to use salt and pepper, substitute 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper for the seasoning blend.

Microsoft's Deadly Love

by Alessandro Ebersol (Agent Smith)

I hesitated a lot before writing this article. In fact, my heart was heavy. It would be like telling children that Santa Claus doesn't exist, or the tooth fairy is an invention and the Easter rabbit is a scam. How to do this, right now that Linux is becoming mainstream? Throwing a bucket of cold water in newcomers to Linux? Discourage new users?

However, I can't just think about who's coming now. I need to think about who has always been here, along the way. People who have lived great times, bad times, and, our times now, where everything looks good, but it is not. It is for those who have always been Linux users that I write this article. After all, we are like citizens, people who live in an area, in the city, which is old, ugly, even marginalized. Big contractors have marked our neighborhood for gentrification. And, they will go to great lengths to expel us from our homes, our /homes.

How did the cancer turn into love?

What has been happening, with Microsoft, since Steve Ballmer left the presidency, for those who observe it from the outside, seems incredible. How did Microsoft, a company that has always been an antagonist of Free Software in general, and GNU/Linux in particular, come to cooperate, finance and get involved with the community?

Ballmer in 2001

How was that? We cannot forget that Steve Ballmer called Linux and Open Source cancer in 2001. Incidentally, he, at the time, already dismissed the term Free Software in favor of the term Open Source, and even so, he confused the two terms and what it was possible to do with them. He said in 2001: "Government funding should be for work available to everyone," he says, patriotic. But "open source is not available to commercial companies" and therefore must be considered a violation of public trust." Said the guy who loved a government purchase, you know, where the money is let loose. And, that money comes out of the taxpayers' pockets. Let's be honest here: Government work, office work, can be done on Linux, or in a cloud, without the need for Microsoft systems, or its applications, and all the pendants that come along (anti this, anti that, etc, etc...).

But, this Ballmer mentality pushed Microsoft to a dead end: Everyone was using Free Software as a competitive advantage, but Microsoft, because of its CEO (Ballmer), remained an opponent of Free Software. Of course, Ballmer had his share of messes, like getting involved in cell phone manufacturing, which Bill Gates was opposed to, but Ballmer thought it best to acquire Nokia's plants and force his line of Windows Phone OS-based phones. That turned out to be an epic blunder, as we have all seen.

If you can't beat them, pretend you love them...

The situation with Ballmer had escalated, to the point that there was no other way out but his (Ballmer) departure from Microsoft. He retired from the company in 2014, and with his retirement bonuses and compensations, he was able to live very well. He even bought a basketball team, the Los Angeles Clippers. One thing, however, is that, despite being publicly considered "friends", there was quite a rivalry with Bill Gates. He never liked Ballmer's style, and with Ballmer at the helm, he saw the company shrink and become much less relevant than it was. Don't get me wrong. The company has shrunk, but it has remained profitable, breaking many records of profit and growth. It just became more of a technology company, and it was no longer the all-powerful Microsoft. Gates remained on Microsoft's board of directors until this year, 2020. And, we can speculate that Ballmer's departure had a finger from Gates, for the reasons mentioned.

Despite no longer the CEO, Gates has enormous power inside Microsoft

A new face, but the same old intentions

As I mentioned above, Ballmer's style had burned all the bridges with Free Software (which they like to call Open Source), to the point that the company no longer had any credibility with the community. Enter Satya Nadella.

A friendly face, great public relations

Satya Nadella's entry had an immediate impact on Microsoft. After decades of leadership by Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, there was an aggressive, sometimes toxic, culture at Microsoft. Satya has dramatically changed Microsoft's culture, employee morale has improved and the corporate market was ready for the move to the cloud. Well, this new face, this change in culture, this whole turn around was what the company, Microsoft, wanted everyone to realize. In fact, Nadella's entry was a major publicity stunt. Not that he wasn't capable. He worked at Sun and started at Microsoft in 1992, talent he had and has. The change, however, was only cosmetic.

So much so that, when asked about equal wages for men and women at Microsoft, he went off on a tangent. That is, the more things seem to change, the more they remain the same.

If you can't beat them, buy a seat at the table.

Nadella started a movement towards Free Software, since all the other big players were already there.

Nadella, in charge of Microsoft, approached the company with companies and technologies with which Microsoft also competes, including Apple Inc., Salesforce, IBM, and Dropbox. In contrast to Microsoft's previous campaigns against the Linux operating system, Nadella proclaimed that "Microsoft ♥ Linux" and Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation as a Platinum member in 2016.

Yes, Microsoft bought a seat at the table, and forced its foot on the door. But it was not just that.

In doing so, Nadella lived up to the Mafia saying: "Keep your friends close, and your enemies even closer."

But, when building these "bridges", seeking this approach, Nadella set in motion plans with hidden motives, where the true nature of Microsoft appears, despite the friendly and smiling face.

Let's never forget James Plamondon

James Plamondon was an evangelist for Microsoft technologies. For eight years, he created and implemented Microsoft's technology evangelism tactics. There is a famous presentation of his "Evangelism is War", where he details the tactics that should be used to destroy Microsoft's enemies. Now, about technical journalists, he wrote: "Mind control: to control mental output, you need to control mental input. Take control of the channels through which developers receive information, so they can only think of the things you tell them. So, you control the mind!" The full text can be accessed here.

Since Microsoft has a good part of today's technical press on its payroll (ads and publicity), it is clear that it gets great articles, mainly about the bold plans to make the company, an Open Source company, of its CEO Nadella.

Years later, Plamondon regretted his actions.

Of course, in order for the community to believe in the "new" Microsoft, they had to invest in sites that dealt with Free and Open Source Software, such as Fossbytes and others. And, so much so, that today, there are sites on Linux that deal more with Microsoft advertising than with Linux itself.

Thanks to all the positive publicity, Microsoft has managed to change its image. But the icing on the cake was still missing, which was having all Free Software and Open Source projects for itself. And, incredible as it may seem, it materialized.

The purchase of github, or, how to have (almost) all Free Software in one stroke

GNU/Linux has always benefited from diversity. What some pointed out as a weakness, fragmentation, was actually, and still is, a quality and a strength of Free Software. So much so, Ballmer would have said that "There is no company called Linux, there is only a roadmap for Linux. However, Linux kind of springs organically from the earth. And it had, you know, the characteristics of communism that people love very, very much about it. That is, it is free."

Exactly, in such fragmentation, the organicity of Linux was its strength and shield. However, that would change a lot, with centralizations that would leave Linux vulnerable. With Nadella's leadership, Microsoft started with a wave of acquisitions, which proved to be better than Ballmer's clumsy acquisitions. He (Ballmer) bought Nokia, Skype and some other assets, which depreciated or lost relevance.

Github was where all the cool kids were

In 2014, Nadella's first acquisition by Microsoft was Mojang, a Swedish gaming company best known for the computer game Minecraft, for $2.5 billion. He followed this up by buying Xamarin for an undisclosed amount. He oversaw the purchase of the professional LinkedIn network in 2016 for $26.2 billion. On October 26, 2018, Microsoft acquired GitHub for $7.5 billion.

However, even the purchase of Github was a very well thought out move. In fact, an attack that could not have been done, but with great patience.

And, it took a long time to materialize.

In 2014, Microsoft's cloud chief Scott Guthrie wrote a proposal to acquire GitHub. Then he filed the plan in a drawer. From time to time, he would take the plan, look at it and then return it to the drawer.

Guthrie felt that Microsoft was simply not ready to acquire the popular open source company. "We would have screwed up," said Guthrie. In addition, the developers - many of whom viewed Microsoft as the #1 public enemy for its attacks on open source software distributed for free - would have revolted.

"The open source world would have seen us correctly as the antichrist," he said. "We did not have the credibility that we have now regarding open source." The whole story can be read here.

And this is correct. Has Microsoft changed? No way. They are still the antichrist. Only their tactics have changed. After all, a snake can change scales, but it remains a snake.

Microsoft, the empire created on the shoulders of others.

For those who do not know the company's history, it was founded on the work of others, which were not always legally acquired. The first product for IBM-PC computers, MS-DOS, was not even produced by them, but by Tim Patterson, of a Seattle company, which Microsoft hastily bought to present to IBM.

But it does not stop there. Over the years, the company has appropriated much more.

1994 - Stac, which created disk compression software, Stacker, and in 1993, Microsoft released MS-DOS 6.0, which included a disk compression program called DoubleSpace. Microsoft had previously discussed with Stac to license its compression technology and discussed with Stac engineers and analyzed the Stac code as part of the due diligence process. Result: They copied the technology, launched the product and gave nothing to Stac. Stac sued Microsoft and won in 2001.

1995 - Syn'x Relief sues Microsoft for software piracy: Several pioneering 3D animation features developed by the French company Syn'x Relief for its "Character" product, were copied by SoftImage. They were negotiating a license for several features with SoftImage, which was acquired by Microsoft. Negotiations were interrupted when SoftImage made irrational demands. These features are unambiguous and unique in the industry, and Microsoft had promised to remove them all from the SoftImage product. Microsoft did not remove any of them and Syn'x Relief found that they had no recourse but to sue. Syn'x Relief won in 2001.

1998 - Sun Microsystems sues Microsoft - the Java case - Microsoft, recognizing that Sun's Java environment could make Windows irrelevant, determined to corrupt and pervert it. To do this, they needed to license Java from Sun. Sun, wishing to promote Java as much as possible, felt that licensing it to Microsoft would be very advantageous for them, although James Gosling, its main creator, felt that dealing with Microsoft was too dangerous. Microsoft, in possession of the Sun license, modified Java in a way that programs made on other platforms would not work properly on Microsoft's Java and vice versa. Since Microsoft had signed a no-change clause in the software, Sun sued Microsoft, and in 2002 Microsoft had to settle, pay $ 20 million and no longer produce the Java virtual machine (JRE).

Well, all these lawsuits and problems were a thing of the past, weren't they? After all, now it's the new Microsoft, from Satya Nadella, a company that LOVES Linux and embraced the spirit of Free Software!

But no, they continue with the old practices, even today.

2020 - AppGet "really helped us", says Microsoft, but does not offer apologies to the developer for killing the open source package manager: A preview of WinGet (program to manage packages on Windows, Apt-Get clone) was launched by Microsoft during the recent Virtual Build event, prompting AppGet developer Keivan Beigi to post about how he was approached by Microsoft in July 2019, supposedly to offer him development aid. He said he was asked by the vendor in detail about his package management ideas, asked to apply for a job at Microsoft to work on an official version of AppGet and did not hear anything else until the moment before WinGet was released. After that, Beigi gave up working on AppGet. Link here.

2020 - I think it's time to share publicly about how Microsoft stole my code and spat on it: "Microsoft copies/steals lerna" - Lerna, A tool for managing JavaScript projects with multiple packages, was what "inspired" a similar tool, Rush, from Microsoft, who does the same thing. The author, Jamie Kyle, after analyzing the Rush code, came to this conclusion. But Microsoft did even worse, according to Jamie: "In the readme, they recognize the fact that there are other solutions and say they are bad. No mention of the fact that Rush was taken directly from one of those bad solutions."

The entire story was removed from the internet, being kept only in the org web archive and in articles spread across the internet. Who knows how Microsoft coerced the developer.

Embrace, Extent, Extinguish no more

No, actually, the 3E attack has changed. But, this was only possible with a new actor, a new face, the friendly Nadella, who, behind that smile and that sleepy face, continues to perpetuate all the harms of Microsoft, whether with its employees, with complaints of harassment and low wages for women, such as the practice of taking possession of someone else's work and giving no compensation for it.

Have there been changes at Microsoft? Advertising and public relations, yes, attitudes, no.

Otherwise, let's see:

Has Microsoft Office adopted ODF as a standard? No.

Has Microsoft helped the expansion of Linux on the desktop? No, and I will cover how it plans to kill Linux on the desktop.

Did Microsoft port MS Office for Linux? Of course not.

Did Microsoft port DirectX to Linux? Surely not.

So nothing has changed. Or, it changed for the worse: At least, under Ballmer's direction, Microsoft was not disguised: it wanted to destroy Linux and that was very clear. With Nadella, it still wants to destroy it, but in a veiled way.

However, how does Microsoft act now, in relation to Linux? With another EEE strategy, however it is now Envelope, Extend, Extinguish.

The new EEE

Since Microsoft couldn't compete with Linux, and the focus of the IT industry had changed (before, you had a company that manufactured software, to be sold, with licenses, support and maintenance. Now, you must have a company that sells services, infrastructure, virtualization and storage space), it then approached Free Software to be able to profit from it too.

But how would Microsoft profit from Free Software, which it has attacked so much over the years? Simple, make Linux need Microsoft to run. And, introduce Microsoft as the best Linux provider that can exist. How come? Yes, it's possible, and this is happening now.

Microsoft, one of the biggest contributors to the Linux kernel

Yes, it is true, Microsoft has become one of the biggest contributors to the development of the Linux kernel. What's more, it even put a programmer, employed by it, as second in the hierarchy of development of the Linux kernel. With all this support, Linux should already be super developed, compatible with all Microsoft hardware (Surface tablets), with DirectX, with OOXML files from MS Office, and even with Xbox games, right?

No, of course not. Microsoft's contributions are only in its own interest. In fact, all of this effort in developing the Linux kernel is just about making Linux performance better, running within Hyper-V. And now, it gets worse, because it is no longer emulating Linux on the server side, but also WSL, emulating Linux on the Windows 10 desktop. Yes, Microsoft is investing heavily to be able to emulate Linux in the best possible way, within their platforms: On the server, Azure, and on the desktop, WSL.

Make no mistake: Everything that is happening now, has happened before ...

Does history repeat itself? I would say that people repeat history, because they do not change. And, what we see today, with this approach of Microsoft, Linux and Free Software, is nothing more than the 90s repeating itself.

How? Well, who is younger does not remember this story, but it happened. Paul Maritz, head of the company's operating systems business, amid fierce competition with Netscape, would have outlined, in 1995, the strategy to defeat the competitor. He would have said: "We are going to cut off their air supply. Whatever they are selling, we will donate for free" After that, the next version of Windows, Windows 98, came with Internet Explorer built-in, free of charge, so that users didn't waste time buying and installing Netscape navigator, the Netscape browser.

The result of this was that Netscape was slowly languishing and dying, since with a built-in browser, Microsoft could create extensions for HTML, CSS and other things, which competitors could not keep up with. Besides, who would buy a browser, when there was already one built in with the operating system? The company shrunk to the point that it was bought by AOL in 2002. Its flagship product, the Netscape navigator, was open sourced and became the basis for Firefox. And, AOL sued Microsoft for unfair practices in the browser market in July 2002. In 2003, Microsoft agreed to settle with AOL, where it would pay US $750 million in compensation for its practices, ending the lawsuit. But at that point, almost ten years had passed, Netscape had almost gone bankrupt, and the Netscape Navigator was no longer even remembered. A victory, too late.

And today history repeats itself ...

And what is the relationship of this history with the current status of Linux? The same. Microsoft is working hard, investing heavily in the development of the Linux kernel to make it a client software for its Windows products, both on the desktop (WSL) and on the server (Azure). The logic is the same: Who will take the trouble to install Linux, when it is already built into Windows 10? Add to that the fact that new versions of the Linux kernel will come with specific drivers for WSL, mainly in the graphics (video drivers for OpenGL), and we are already in the second E (xtend), now for Envelope, Extend and Extinguish.

The sky is falling?

Not yet, but you should be aware. Next month, I will write more about how corporations are gradually taking over GNU/Linux, and, with its influence and power, changing the direction of its development, in order to alienate users and favor their corporate agendas. Until then, a big hug, and sleep with one eye open and one closed in this matter.

Terminal Fun With screenFetch

by Paul Arnote (parnote)

It's a command line program (actually, a bash script) with a funny name. It's called screenFetch, and it's in the PCLinuxOS repository. But, it can really dress up your command line when executed.

Here's the description from Synaptic:

Screenfetch is a "Bash Screenshot Information Tool"
screenFetch is a "Bash Screenshot Information Tool". This handy Bash script can be used to generate one of those nifty terminal theme information + ASCII distribution logos you see in everyone's screenshots nowadays. It will auto-detect your distribution and display an ASCII version of that distribution's logo and some valuable information to the right. There are options to specify no ascii art, colors, taking a screenshot upon displaying info, and even customizing the screenshot command! This script is very easy to add to and can be easily extended.

If you're so inclined, you can take a look "under the hood" to see how it all works. Open up the bash script in a simple text editor (I used Mousepad, Xfce's simple text editor). It is located at /usr/bin/screenfetch.sh. If you open it as a regular user (as in not root), you should be safe to poke around without causing any damage. In fact, you would have to go out of your way to cause any damage. If you're learning how to create bash scripts, this could be quite eye-opening for you, and help further your "education." You can also view the source code for the screenFetch program on its GitHub home, here.

The original program has spawned several "copycat" versions on GitHub, as well. When doing a search on GitHub for "screenfetch," I got back 31 different projects in my search results. Many of these are "enhancements" to the original (previous link) that cater to special situations, or that expand on the amount and type of information provided. If you're, as we speculated earlier, still in that "learning bash programming" mode, it might be a good idea to compare the "original" by KittyKat to the "enhanced" versions. It will show you how you can add or subtract information that is reported. For example, one that I saw in my cursory glance of the search results (specifically, called archey4), also reported the IP address on the local network, disk usage, and temperature.

Here are its command line options, visible when you type screenfetch - -help at the command line:

Now, the fun can start. Simply enter screenfetch at the command prompt. You should see something similar to the image above. You should see an ASCII art depiction of Dobie, the mascot of PCLinuxOS. To the right, it displays all sorts of useful information about your system.

Looking back through the "help" information for screenFetch, you will notice a list of distros that it recognizes. You could enter the command screenfetch -A 'Arch Linux' to display the ASCII art logo for Arch Linux, or screenfetch -A 'Ubuntu' to display the ASCII art logo for Ubuntu. All of your other system info, however, will remain correctly displayed.

But, if you specify a distro that isn't in the list (like the command above, screenfetch -A 'BSD'), of if you enter the command screenfetch -A ' ' (that's a blank space between the quotes), you will get a picture of Tux, the Linux mascot displayed as ASCII art on the left side of the system information.

Summary

Yes, there are other tools in the PCLinuxOS repository that provide more system information, such as inxi or htop. But they do not provide the ASCII art logo that screenFetch provides.

ScreenFetch is a fun little utility that is great for showing off your favorite distro. And we all know that is PCLinuxOS, right?

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight - Mr. Lumbergh

What is your name/username?
Brian, aka Mr. Lumbergh

How old/young are you?
;-) 42

Are you married, single?
I'm currently in a relationship but never married.

How about Kids, Grandkids (names and ages)?
None.

Do you have pets, what is your favorite?
Yes, I was adopted by a domestic shorthair tabby about 4 years ago. When I'm able to afford more space, that'll most likely grow to include another cat and a couple of puppers as well.

Are you retired, still working and if working, what do you do?
Still working... I'm a musician that pays for it by having a 9-5 mechanical engineering gig.

Where do you call home? What is it like? IE: weather, scenery
Sunny Orange County California is where I'm currently based, though I'll be relocating to Western Australia in the next few months to take advantage of an opportunity that's come my way.

Where did you go to school and what is your education level?
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Arizona State.

What kind of things do you like doing? hobbies, travel, fishing, camping?
I play guitar & bass, sing, and compose. I write using LMMS and Ardour, on my 'Nix boxes of course. I like to build guitar effects pedals, completely from scratch as well as from kits and I enjoy customizing my guitars. I also am passionate about photography, especially at night with "light painting" and astronomy. I built an Arduino-powered tracker/mount for timed exposures of the night sky to compensate for Earth's rotation, and am in the middle of putting together a motorized slider with parallax correction to add motion to my timed exposures. It's fun for me to be able to combine my engineering brain with my artist brain. I like the outdoors as well, and enjoy hiking, camping, and offroading, but can normally be found on the weekends in the pool hall shooting stick and doing 22-oz. curls with my homies.

Why and when did you start using Linux?
2005. The security issues with Windows XP were really blowing up at the time, so when I ordered a new computer for school I made sure to do so with a second drive planning on giving 'Nix a try. I started off on Ubuntu on that machine, and when I got a laptop a couple of years later I wanted to try something different and ran through a couple distros before settling on PCLinuxOS. It's become my everyday driver, and I now use Linux most of the time on my own machines simply because I like it better. I'm currently running Debian 10 and PCLinuxOS.

What specific equipment do currently use with PCLinuxOS?
This desktop has an AMD Ryzen 7 3800X, Radeon 580X graphics, Asus X570 mobo, and 64GB of G-Skill Ripjaws RAM. I also have a Nektar Impact GX61 MIDI controller keyboard and Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 audio interface connected to this machine since it's my production rig. I also have PCLinuxOS installed on a hand-me-down laptop (Lenovo Z580) that runs only Linux.

Do you feel that your use of Linux influences the reactions you receive from your computer peers or family? If so, how?
I'm not sure how much using Linux has to do with it, but I've certainly become the tech support for my family... Outside of a few die-hards, I find that folks generally aren't too hung up on what OS you use. I use Windows, MacOS, and Linux daily and think each has its place, though I'd likely never use Windows at all on my own boxes if WINE support for games and a few audio programs was better.

What would you like to see happen within PCLinuxOS that would make it a better place. What are your feelings?
I'd like to see an official realtime kernel available for PCLinuxOS. Especially when I'm working with the MIDI controller, the latency is noticeable compared to using Debian running the 5.4RT.
Can't beat the community, though.

PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by YouCanToo, featuring PCLinuxOS forum members. This column will allow "the rest of us" to get to know our forum family members better, and will give those featured an opportunity to share their PCLinuxOS story with the rest of the world.

If you would like to be featured in PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight, please send a private message to youcantoo, parnote or Meemaw in the PCLinuxOS forum expressing your interest.

PCLinuxOS Bonus Recipe Corner: Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Potatoes

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 lb small (two-bite) Yukon gold potatoes, halved
4 teaspoons oil
2 tablespoons ranch dip mix (from 1-oz package)
1 jalapeño chile, seeded, finely chopped
4 slices cooked bacon, coarsely chopped
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (4 oz)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1 Heat gas or charcoal grill. Cut 2 (18x12-inch) sheets of heavy-duty foil. Spray with cooking spray.

2 Add cut potatoes to a medium bowl. Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with ranch dip mix. Add jalapeño chile; stir until evenly coated. Place an equal amount of mixture on the center of each sheet of foil. Evenly sprinkle with bacon.

3 Bring up 2 sides of foil so edges meet. Seal edges, making tight 1/2-inch fold; fold again, allowing space for heat circulation and expansion. Fold other sides to seal.

4 Place packs on the grill over medium heat. Cover grill; cook for 12 minutes. Rotate packs 1/2 turn; cook 12 to 14 minutes longer or until potatoes are tender. Remove packs from the grill, cut large X across top of each pack. Carefully fold back foil, and sprinkle potatoes with cheese. If desired, garnish with sliced jalapeño chile.

TIPS:

Regular Yukon gold potatoes can be substituted for the small potatoes in this recipe. Cut them into 3/4-inch chunks.

To make in the oven, place packs on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375F 40 to 45 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

GIMP Tutorial: Pattern Filters For Different Effects

by Meemaw

I was in GIMP the other day and got into the Render filter. One of the subcategories is Pattern, and I hadn't explored much of that before. It turns out that there are several items that could be useful.

Filters > Render > Pattern > Checkerboard makes a checkerboard pattern that can also be edited for size and color. In this version of GIMP, there are two menu entries for checkerboard, the new one and the "Legacy" one. The new one is a straight checkerboard, but the legacy entry has a checkbox called "Psychobilly", which gives a different effect.

Filters > Render > Pattern > Grid makes a grid pattern, like graph paper.

Filters > Render > Pattern > Linear Sinusoid makes a sort of checkerboard pattern but more abstract. Loads of settings will let you twist it to your liking.

Filters > Render > Pattern > Maze makes a maze. You can make the size bigger or smaller. Clicking on "New Seed" changes the maze. I'm not sure if each maze is actually "solvable", but the design looks neat anyway.

Filters > Render > Pattern > Jigsaw makes a jigsaw puzzle with any picture you want. In version 2.10.18, Jigsaw is a legacy filter. In fact, there is a new and a legacy filter for Checkerboard, Grid, Maze and Sinus. The new version of these filters have more settings for more variety. The new versions have a "G" icon next to them, while the legacy versions have a gear icon.

Filters > Render > Pattern > Spiral makes two different types - Linear and Logarithmic. You can check "On-canvas controls" and you'll get the handles shown. On the linear, it's just to control the size of the stroke, but there are two on the logarithmic, one for the stroke and one for how tight you want the spiral. Be careful how far you move your mouse! Your stroke could disappear!

Filters > Render > Pattern > Qbist is a sort of abstract pattern generator. You get a grid where you can choose something that you like. Every time you click on one, the grid changes to another collection close to the one you clicked. When you find one you want, click on it and choose OK.

Sinus is another abstract. You'll see a new version and a legacy version.

Bayer Matrix is kind of like a checkerboard, except that all the squares are different shades of gray, which you can lighten, darken, resize and rotate.

Looks like we'll be experimenting for a while!

ms_meme's Nook: We Saw The Light

MP3                                                                       OGG

PCLinuxOS Puzzled Partitionsl

Scrappler

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Sudoku

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Crossword

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WordFind

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Mixed Up meme Scrambler

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