GNU/Linux and Free Software Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Dec 29, 2023

• Desktop/Laptop

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Linux is the only OS to support diagonal PC monitor mode — dev champions the case for 22-degree-rotation computing

    A GNU/Linux developer has eschewed boring traditional landscape and portrait monitor orientations and is championing diagonal modes, with 22 degrees claimed to be the sweet spot.

  • ZDNet ☛ Sure, back in the '00s, you needed to be a Linux shell command wizard to install it and run its software. That was a long time ago. Today, anyone can run Linux. Heck, more than a decade ago, I taught a 79-year-old how to run Ubuntu Linux, and we didn't even share a common language!

    Another advantage of running Linux is that your PC will never be left behind. I have computers in my office that are more than a decade old that came with Windows XP on them, and they're still running up-to-date Linux to this day.

    If you really can't see yourself learning Linux, how about ChromeOS? You can use a web browser, right? Of course you can.

    Thanks to ChromeOS Flex, you can take pretty much any PC from the last decade or so and get it running ChromeOS. I upgraded a Dell Inspiron One 2320 with Windows 7 to ChromeOS Flex. This all-in-one (AIO) 2012 computer has a 2.4Ghz Intel Pentium Dual Core i5 processor, 6GBs of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT525M, and a 320GB hard drive, and it's a great ChromeOS machine, which I use as my Zoom workstation every day.

• Troy Patterson ☛ MoodleNet Thoughts

  I love Moodle and what you can do with it. I love that there isn’t a big money-making, data-sucking, privacy-invasive company running it.

  A little background. I’m in the US. Specifically, I’m in K-12 education teaching and learning. Moodle is not super popular. There are certainly a few places, but Moodle is much bigger at the University level than K-12. There is much angst over Moodle. Quite simply, teachers find it “too hard”.

• Games

  • System76 ☛ The Buyer's Guide to PC Gaming

    Generally, the level of power you need for a fluid gaming experience is dependent on what types of game you play. We’ll explore varying needs for the following gamers: 2D Strategy, Survival Crafting, Competitive, and Open World Exploration. Keep in mind that if you plan to play at 1440p or 4K, this will increase your graphics needs.

  • Linux.org ☛ Checking out Tetris for BASH

    I know some of you may not be into programming. I cannot explain enough how important it can be to be able to create scripts. Automate everyday simple tasks into a script is an important ability. For anyone who remembers the DOS day, batch files could be important. BASH is much more powerful and is in its own right, a language. It just isn't compiled into an executable file. Trust me, there are some very important items in this article that can enhance a BASH script.

• Chromium

  • The Register UK ☛ Irony alert: Lawsuit alleging Chrome’s Incognito Mode isn’t will settle on unknown terms

    The case kicked off in 2020 when concerned netizens argued Chrome’s Incognito Mode – which Google promotes as offering the chance to “browse the web privately," a concept Google illustrates with an icon depicting a spy – does not actually prevent the ads and search giant from observing “what the user is viewing, what the user last viewed, and details about the user's hardware."

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Google to settle privacy lawsuit over Chrome’s incognito mode

    Google LLC has agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused it of misleading users about the privacy protections provided by Chrome’s incognito browsing feature. The agreement was reported today by Ars Technica, which cited court documents filed on Tuesday.

• IBM

  • Silicon Angle ☛ Samsung partners with Red Bait to verify key data center scalability tech [Ed: Red Bait "sponsors" this site for puff pieces]

    Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said Wednesday it has achieved a key milestone after successfully verifying its Compute Express Link memory technology works as expected in a real user environment with the open-source software company Red Bait Inc.