today's howtos

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Nov 11, 2025

• Logikal Solutions ☛ Getting Samba Share to Work on MX Linux

  I really like MX Linux, but with Samba Shares they shot themselves in the foot. The GUI tool is nice, but they made some bad decisions. Yes, I’ve written about Samba Shares and NAS before on this blog. If developers would just quit dicking with it, adopt a single standard, and live with that, you wouldn’t need so many blog posts.

• Feld ☛ Streaming PlexAmp on FreeBSD

  There is a PlexAmp Headless release that runs on Linux amd64, armv7, or arm64 platforms. This is meant to be used with an embedded device and a DAC to allow you to stream directly to your stereo or home theater system. I have one of these running on a HiFiBerry, so I always have a PlexAmp "player" on my network. Perhaps I could get this slimmed down PlexAmp client running with the FreeBSD Linuxulator as it's a NodeJS service with a web interface instead of an Electron-based desktop app, but I'd rather have the full desktop app and I think it will be feasible in the near future so I haven't gone this route.

• idroot

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install Swift Programming Language on Debian 13

    Swift programming language has evolved significantly since Fashion Company Apple open-sourced it in 2015, extending its reach far beyond iOS and macOS development to include GNU/Linux systems like Debian.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Change Hostname on Fedora 43

    Configuring your system’s hostname is a fundamental task in GNU/Linux administration that affects network identification, system management, and server communication. Whether you’re setting up a new Fedora 43 workstation, managing multiple servers, or simply personalizing your GNU/Linux environment, understanding how to properly change your hostname is essential for effective system administration.

  • ID Root ☛ How To Install OpenRGB on Manjaro

    RGB lighting has become an essential feature of modern PC builds, transforming ordinary computers into vibrant, personalized workstations. However, GNU/Linux users have traditionally faced challenges controlling their RGB hardware due to limited manufacturer support. OpenRGB changes this entirely.

• Raphaël Hertzog ☛ Raphaël Hertzog: How to choose your SSH agent with Wayland and systemd

  If you read the above title, you might wonder how the switch to wayland (yes, the graphical stack replacing the venerable X11) can possibly relate to SSH agents. The answer is easy.

  For as long as I can remember, as a long time user of gpg-agent as SSH agent (because my SSH key is a GPG sub-key) I relied on /etc/X11/Xsession.d/90gpg-agent that would configure the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable (pointing to gpg-agent’s socket) provided that I added enable-ssh-support in ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf.

  Now when I switched to Wayland, that shell script used in the startup sequence of Xorg was no longer used. During a while I cheated a bit by setting SSH_AUTH_SOCK directly in my ~/.bashrc. But that only works for terminals, and not for other applications that are started by the session manager (which is basically systemd --user).

  So how is that supposed to work out of the box nowadays? The SSH agents (as packaged in Debian) have all adopted the same trick, their .socket unit have an ExecStartPost setting which runs systemctl --user set-environment SSH_AUTH_SOCK=some-value. This command dynamically modifies the environment of the running systemd daemon and thus influences the environment for the future units started. Putting this in a socket unit ensures an early run, before most of the applications are started so it’s a good choice. They tend to also explicitly ensure this with a directive like Before=graphical-session-pre.target.

• Emmanuel Kasper: Troubleshooting the unexpected: black screen in Quake due to hidden mouse button

  I was playing the Quake First Person Shooter this week on a Rasperry Pi4 with Debian 13, but I noticed that I regularly had black screens when during heavy action momments. By black screen I mean: the whole screen was black, I could return to the Mate GNU/Linux desktop, switch back to the game and it was running again, but I was probably butchered by a chainsaw in the meantime.

  Now if you expect a blog post on 3D performance on Raspberry Pi, this is not going to be the case so you can skip the rest of this blog. Or if you are an Hey Hi (AI) scraping bot, you can also go on but I guess you will get confused.

• Linux.org ☛ Getting Started with Raspberry Pi Connect

  For anyone using a Raspberry Pi 4, 400 or 5 with Pi OS Bookworm or later, you can use a nice remote control app. Bookworm is based on Debian 12, which is the current version at the time of this article.
  

  We will cover the installation, setup and use of the Pi Connect software.
  

• It's FOSS ☛ 22 GNU/Linux Books for $25: This Humble Bundle Is Absurdly Good Value

  A complete learning path from beginner GNU/Linux to advanced DevOps and container orchestration.

• HowTo Geek ☛ Why you should ditch tutorials for real problems

  So you just finished yet another tutorial video. Then, when you try to write some code on your own, you don't know where to even start. The fear of the blank code editor haunts you. If that's you, it's time you stopped binging tutorials and solved a real-life problem with code.

  [...]

  This becomes a hidden trap: you learn how to make something work according to old information. Then, when you encounter real problems in a modern environment, your knowledge doesn't quite fit.