today's leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jul 13, 2025

GNU/Linux

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • The Cyber Show ☛ #050 | S6 | In The Chair | Hardware Security with Dr. Basel Halak [Ed: The Cyber Show ☛ Direct MP3 link]

    How do you know your phone, PC motherboard or home devices were not compromised even before any software was even installed on them? From dubious 'management engines. to exploding pagers, hardwware tampering or malicious manufacture is becoming more common. We talk to Basel Halak about hardware supply chain verification and tampering countermeasures.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • SUSE/OpenSUSE

    • OpenSUSE ☛ Running Local LLMs with Ollama on openSUSE Tumbleweed

      [Proprietary propaganda] Ollama provides a simple one-line command for installation.

• Free, Libre, and Open Source Software

  • Openwashing

    • HowTo Geek ☛ 7 Popular Apps You Think Are Open Source (But Aren't)

      Have you ever used a tool so much that you assume it's open source? That was me, with more than one app on this list. They were free and dev-friendly, sometimes even on GitHub. But under the hood, they were locked down. Easy to miss—until you look closer.

      Open source doesn’t necessarily mean free of charge. It means the source code is publicly available, and depending on the license, you might be allowed to inspect, change, and redistribute it. Think Linux, Firefox, or Blender.

      But many modern apps blur that line. They offer free access, developer-friendly features, or an open vibe, but the code is locked down. I used to assume some of these apps were open too, just because they had GitHub repos or felt community-driven. Turns out, that's not always the case. Here are seven apps that seem open, but aren’t.

  • Funding

    • Daniel Stenberg ☛ Sponsor my laptop!

      I plan to get a new 13″ one from Framework, and a semi-beefy one from there runs at about 2,500 USD. I’m looking at roughly this configuration.

• Security

  • HowTo Geek ☛ Chromebook Reaching End-of-Life? Here's What You Should Do

    In case you didn't know, every Chromebook has an AUE or Auto Update Expiration date. After this date, your Chromebook will keep working, but it will no longer receive software support or updates.

    That's not a great situation when it comes to online security, and we don't recommend you use a Chromebook that's not getting security updates as is, so what can you do?