GNU/Linux Leftovers

posted by Roy Schestowitz on May 01, 2025

• The Register UK ☛ Linux in Excel? Sure, why not ruin both

  From the department of "but… why?" comes news of Linux running in Microsoft Excel, although all might not be as it seems.

  Running Excel in Linux is notoriously difficult and something Microsoft does not support. Sure, Wine can probably get some older versions running to a limited extent, but going the other way around and getting Linux to run in Excel? That takes a special kind of determination.

  Microsoft Excel has been put to work in ways the company's engineers could never have imagined, which includes running Doom in a spreadsheet. In 2024, the number-crunching software was used to implement a 16-bit CPU, replete with 128 KB of RAM and a 128 x 128 display.

• Best GNU/Linux Distros for Your Home Lab in 2025

  Whether you have the latest modern system hardware or some old dusty laptop in the corner, there are GNU/Linux distros available for all types of users. Using Linux, you can utilize your hardware to serve a better purpose.

• Graphics Stack

  • Brendan Gregg ☛ Brendan Gregg: Doom GPU Flame Graphs

    AI Flame Graphs are now open source and include defective chip maker Intel Battlemage GPU support, which means it can also generate full-stack GPU flame graphs for providing new insights into gaming performance, especially when coupled with FlameScope (an older open source project of mine). Here's an example of GZDoom, and I'll start with flame scopes for both CPU and GPU utilization, with details annotated: [...]

• Desktop Environments (DE)/Window Managers (WM)

  • GNOME Desktop/GTK

    • Gedit Technology blog: No more Pythons in gedit

      The first *.py file in the gedit repository was added in 2005, 20 years ago. Since then, it seems that it has always been possible to write gedit plugins in Python. Well, this is no more. It deserves some explanation.

• Distributions and Operating Systems

  • Debian Family

    • Chuck Carroll ☛ Chuck Carroll on Proxmox

      After hearing a lot of praise for Proxmox both online and in my courses (from both fellow students and instructors), I decided to experiment with it in my homelab environment. I also wanted to get hands on experience with it after hearing that many companies have been switching to Proxmox from VMware to cut costs, especially after VMware significantly raised their pricing after Broadcom acquired them. Historically, I've ran my server services on bare metal, but separating services by virtual machine on a single server sounds like a far more efficient way to manage. I found things about Proxmox that I liked and things I disliked. Initially starting as just an experiment, I decided to move all my services from 3 to 4 physical servers over to a single Proxmox server, but after a few weeks, I moved them back.

  • Open Hardware/Modding

    • CNX Software ☛ ESP32-C5 dual-band WiFi 6 SoC enters mass production, ESP32-C5-DevKitC-1 board launched for $15

      Espressif Systems has just started mass production of the ESP32-C5 RISC-V wireless microcontroller with dual-band (2.4/5 GHz) WiFi 6, Bluetooth LE, and 802.15.4 (Zigbee, Thread) connectivity. The ESP32-C5-DevKitC-1 development is now available for about $15 on AliExpress, and should soon show up on the company’s Amazon store.

    • CNX Software ☛ Adafruit Sparkle Motion – An ESP32-based addressable LED controller with four outputs, 100W USB-C power, and WLED/xLights support

      The Adafruit Sparkle Motion is an ESP32-based LED controller board designed to drive addressable LEDs, including WS2812B, APA102, SK6812, LPD8806, UCS2904, and SM16704. It supports both WLED and xLights projects and features an onboard 100W USB-C PD port to drive even high-voltage LED setups. The board includes dual power input options (USB-C PD with 5/12/20V selection and 2.1mm DC jack), a 5A fuse, and level-shifted output terminals for controlling addressable LEDs.