today's leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Jan 07, 2026

• Server

  • Cyble Inc ☛ Proxy Server Explained: Types, Uses, Forward Vs Reverse

    A Proxy is essentially a representative (acting) on behalf of another entity (the client). In networking, a proxy server acts as a middle layer between a client and the resource it wishes to access. The client requests are routed through the proxy (rather than) directly communicating with a website or application. Thus, the client can enjoy the benefit of anonymity as well as the enforcement of security, monitoring of traffic, and performance optimization provided by the proxy server.

• Audiocasts/Shows

  • Linux Matters: Lets get Trippy

    Mark revisits the classic Timesplitters game. Alan has entered a coding contest he can’t win. Martin gets trippy with network diagnostics.

• Instructionals/Technical

  • AboutChromebooks ☛ How to check RAM in Linux?

    Determine system RAM without physical inspection using command line tools. This method works for scripting and remote system administration when memory capacity is unknown.

• Entrapment (Microsoft GitHub)

  • Tom's Hardware ☛ Chinese semiconductor outfit has GNU/Linux MPP repository on Microsoft's proprietary prison disabled after a DMCA takedown request — FFmpeg team accuses it of using libavcodec code without attribution

    Leading Chinese fabless semiconductor company Rockchip has had one of its major software repositories taken down in response to a DMCA takedown notice.

• Games

  • Valve’s brilliant Steam Deck now accounts for over 21% of all Linux gamers [Ed: But not all GNU/Linux gamers use Steam; Sharp increase this past year.]

    Valve’s Steam Deck has been a runaway success. While the beloved handheld has sold less than most major console handhelds, it’s become a valuable system for many to take their PC games on the go. Additionally, the system has become a haven for the Linux operating system with Valve’s powerful Proton tool allowing many gamers to ditch Windows for the vast majority of games.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Debian Family

    • Ingo Jürgensmann ☛ Ingo Juergensmann: Outages on Nerdculture.de due to Ceph – Part 2

      Last weekend I had “fun” with Ceph again on a Saturday evening. But let’s start at the beginning….

      Before the weekend I announced a downtime/maintenance windows to upgrade PostgreSQL from v15 to v17 – because of the Debian upgrade from Bookworm to Trixie. After some tests with a cloned VM I decided use the quick path of pg_ugradecluster 15 main -v 17 -m upgrade –clone. As this would be my first time to upgrade PostgreSQL that way, I made several backups. In the end everything went smooth and the database is now on v17.